Politics of Tuesday, 12 January 2021

Source: peacefmonline.com

Ballot snatching: Only 'sick minds' will blame me - Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu responds to allegations

Member of Parliament for Suame Constituency, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu Member of Parliament for Suame Constituency, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

Member of Parliament for Suame constituency and Leader of NPP caucus in the 8th Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is brimming with rage at attempts to link him to the infamous ballot paper snatching incident that rocked the House nearly a week ago.

To him, only "sick minds" will blame him for the action carried out by Carlos Ahenkorah's episode in Parliament during the voting of a Speaker for Ghana's 8th Parliament.

The Tema West MP has come under heavy criticisms after he was 'arrested" by Muntaka for snatching ballot papers during counting after MPs voted to elect a Speaker for the 8th Parliament.

Following that failed attempt, a video went viral that painted the picture that Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was either the mastermind behind the Tema West MP's inglorious actions or that he was aware of what the latter intended to do.

Explaining what happened in parliament on Okay Fm's Ade Akye Abia program, he noted that whilst his eyes were fixated on the sorting and counting of the ballot peppers, Carlos Ahenkorah approached him asking if the leadership of the NPP were going to allow the NDC to snatch the speakership position from them without a fight.

".....I had no idea what Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah was up to though I had beckoned him on the floor of parliament and had instructed him (to go away from me)..."

"I asked Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah to stay away from me and be saying those things so i'm surprised for anybody to think that am the one who goaded him to engage in what he did. It is only a sick mind who will think like that," he noted.

General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, openly accused Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu of instructing Carlos Ahenkorah to snatch the ballot papers in parliament.



Speaking at the party’s press briefing a day after the incident, he said from viral videos "you could see Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu talking to Carlos Ahenkorah seconds before the ballot papers snatching incident."

When asked how he managed to know what Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was saying to Carlos Ahenkorah as there was no sound from the viral video Aseidu Nketia gave a weird answer.

"I am a master of sign languages so I know what he was saying. When someone is gesticulating, I know what they mean," he said.