December 7th saw Ghana heading towards polling stations to elect their new president. The results saw the Incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo winning. The results were not appealing to former president John Mahama. Mahama was the close contender to Nana for the candidacy seat. However, the people’s choice was slightly favoring President Nana Akufo-Addo. However, his win has not been a sweet path. Parliamentary elections have been hard due to the lack of a dominant party. A major scuffle arose in Ghana Parliament hours into the swearing-in of President Nana Akufo-Addo. The rivalry is between lawmakers disagreeing on the December 7th elections.
Events leading to a scuffle in Ghana Parliament
Members of the Ghana Parliament were having elections for the house speaker. It was not until one of the parliament members for the NPP party grabbed some ballot papers during the exercise. It is not yet clear why the honorable attempted such an act. The local televisions aired the members of parliament scornfully pushing each other. Amidst them were soldiers trying to break the unmasked members of parliament from each other.
December elections unrests
The December elections left the gold and cocoa producer in political instability in a bid to pursue democracy. Mahama openly rebuked Nana Akufo-Addo`s win and launched a fight against the results. Mahama claims the results were fraudulent. Moreover, the results reveal a majority of the parliamentary seats being shared by the NDC political party.
A situation that presents a difficulty for President Nana Akufo-Addo. A hung parliament, as a result, has made it difficult to appoint key posts. A dominant political party would have helped speed up the process without wrangles. Nonetheless, Ghana has to elect a speaker and other members to present order in the parliament.
Unexpected turn of Events
No one would have thought that Ghana, a democratic country, would be exposed to such tensions. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, the Ghana parliament elects a house speaker. Surprisingly, the new speaker is from the NDC party, Alban Bagbin. Mahama expressed his disappointments on the parliamentary seat voting on his Facebook page. He never thought he would see parliament members snatching ballot papers being separated from each other by soldiers. He further congratulates Bagbin on his win to become the house speaker.
Ghana`s 8th Parliament
It was not an easy task to vote in Bagbin. The NPP political party was looking forward to appointing Professor Mike Oquaye to be the speaker. Bagbin will now swear in the lawmakers. Later, the president’s swearing-in will take place. The president will then assume the state’s powers and appoint ministers.
The 8th parliament will also vote for the First Deputy speaker and the second deputy speaker. But for now, a milestone has been achieved of voting in the speaker. The president can be sworn in, and the next chapter for Ghana to begin to unfold.
More:
- Main Contenders in Ghana Presidential Election
- All Set for Ghana’s 7th December Elections
- Ghana’s Major Presidential Aspirants Face-Off For the Third Time
