The now controversial Member of Parliament for Tema West, Hon. Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, has put up a defence of his drama in Parliament Thursday morning after snatching a ballot box during voting to choose the next Speaker of Parliament.
According to Carlos Ahenkorah, snatching the ballot in parliament was borne out of his deepest political love and passion for his ruling party the New Patriotic Party (NPP) since he couldn’t watch his party go down in Parliament.
It would be recalled that there was drama in Parliament Thursday morning as newly elected Members of Parliament fought their way through the selection process of a Speaker for the 8thParliament.
From the confusion caused by NDC MPs when they occupied the Majority side of Parliament, to arguments about the eligibility of the Assin North MP-elect, and finally, confusion about the mode of voting, the early hours of the 8th Parliament had surely been very eventful.
However, just when we thought the drama had come to an end, Carlos Ahenkorah came to the rescue.
NDC MPs-elect in the house began jubilating after claiming their nominee, Alban Sumani Bagbin had won the Speakership position by two votes.
The NPP side was clearly not happy about the turn of events.
To save the day for his party, MP-elect for Tema West, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah snatched ballot papers from the hands of the parliamentary official and bolted through the exit of the chamber amidst resistance from his colleagues.
He was not successful as he was accosted by security and some MPs before he could leave the chamber and the ballots retrieved.
Well, the former Deputy Minister has apologized for his appalling actions which dented the image of Ghana‘s Democracy.
Mr Ahenkorah has come under fierce criticisms after he was captured on television snatching ballot papers during counting after MPs voted to elect a Speaker for the 8th Parliament.
“It’s a very tough situation to have opposition as speaker especially when he’s the president in the absence of Nana Addo and his vice not to mention how parliament would function by passing the presidents policies and laws to pave way for development. My colleagues on the majority side couldn’t help take advantage of my sacrifices to force a rerun and we’d to settle for an opposition speaker,” he wrote in a statement.
“I must say I am heartbroken and dejected. We’ve not seen the end of this yet. With this success, they would tell us what they want and what they don’t in parliament because the whip system has been compromised. This is so sad. I’ll die for my party any day. I did it for the grassroots who relied on us in power to survive, the president who needs some peace to run the country and the greater NPP party as a whole because we cannot always allow the NDC to threaten and vilify us. I apologise though to my family and friends both far and near who may be affected by my actions. The NPP in me couldn’t be controlled. I apologise but I tried!!!”.
He, however, justified his action saying ” The first few NPP members voted the NDC whip in the person of Muntaka attacked an NPP member and collected his ballot paper from him because he’s shown it to someone. A scuffle ensued and he took the ballot box itself and the ballots inside away. After a long wait, balloting recommenced. This time the same Muntaka took the ballot box and runoff that someone was showing their ballot whiles John Jinapor and Sam George kick boxed the voting booth”.
The closely contested Speakership election ended with a former NDC lawmaker Alban Bagbin emerging winner making the scenario first in Ghana’s history.
Credit: Gist Africa
