General News of Thursday, 7 January 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

I witnessed Nitiwul call the Military into the chamber – Murtala alleges

Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed has suggested that the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul ordered the armed military men into the chamber of Parliament on January 7, 2021.

Chaos erupted between MP’s from the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress earlier today in Parliament.

This was mainly over the secret balloting for the selection of a new Speaker and during the process, armed soldiers invaded the chamber to “restore calm”.

This development has been condemned by the minority side who believe that the move was unnecessary.

According to the MP for Tamale Central, the man behind Parliament’s Military invasion was the Defence Minister as he witnessed him ordering for their immediate presence into the chamber.

Speaking in an interview on Joy News monitored by GhanaWeb, Mr Murtala said, “Dominic Nitiwul called the Military into the chamber, armed Military men. They were armed to the teeth and that is completely unacceptable. I was there when he was making the call, and I confronted him. I asked him whether he didn’t feel embarrassed about what he was doing… he may lie but I wasn’t the only person there… I have witnesses he made the call in the chamber.”

He further noted that “Never in our history have we had armed military men deployed into the chamber. It was completely unacceptable, the Minister for Defence made that call when he was making the call, I told him it wasn’t necessary because it will be a blur on the integrity of this House.”