MPs were engaged in a fisticuffs
The MPs were taking votes on whether the E-levy should be under certificate of urgency
Calm later returned to the chamber
Parliament on Monday, December 20, 2021, adjourned voting on the controversial E-levy bill to 9.00 am, Tuesday, December 21, 2021.
Voting on the Bill was suspended after the Majority and Minority members turned the chamber into a boxing ring and engaged each other in a fistfight.
It was not a pleasant scene as viewers following the live proceedings in the chamber saw blows from the MPs otherwise referred to as Honourables landed on the faces of other lawmakers while shirts were torn. Others were shoved and jostled in the chaos.
The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, mounted the dais to take over from First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu as the latter announced the assumption of his right to vote in what provoked the Minority members, adjourned proceedings to 9:00 am Tuesday.
The Majority members had earlier accused Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin of deliberately shirking his official duties on Monday as they claimed no knowledge of his whereabouts in contravention of parliamentary procedure.
Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin told journalists in Parliament that, “the NDC’s determination to frustrate and obstruct government business has today been supported by the Speaker of Parliament who is the law sovereign of this House, who is the president of the House and considering the critical numbers, this is the time we expect Mr Speaker to live up to his own bona fide to the people of Ghana.”