The Christian Council of Ghana wants parliament to take urgent steps towards building consensus on the 2022 budget and ensure that steps are taken to prevent chaos in Parliament in future.
This follows the brawl that was witnessed in parliament on Monday night during voting on the controversial E-levy bill.
The Christian Council in a statement said it is “deeply concerned” about the conduct of the legislators in recent times and believe that such behaviors must not be allowed to continue especially due to the impact on the respect and dignity of the country.”
They said the incident is unacceptable and condemnable.
“We respectfully remind parliamentarians that debates in Parliament must remain a platform for the exchange of ideas and not an opportunity for confusion and hostility. Ghanaians voted for you to engage in “debate not boxing,” the Christian Council said in a statement.
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The Christian Council expressed regret that the exchange of fisticuffs as seen in parliament erodes the country’s democratic gains over the past three decades and completely at variance with the expectation of legislators to deepen democracy.
“Our country’s lawmakers must show the way to protect and deepen democratic processes in our governance system. Unfortunately, what we saw in Parliament is a negation of Ghana’s democratic gains over the past thirty years,” the Christian Council noted.
It stressed that there is the need for consensus to be built to prevent future occurrences.
“We therefore urge Parliament to as a matter of urgency build consensus to ensure that the nation has a budget to work with in 2022. We also urge the leadership of Parliament to put measures in place to prevent any future incidence of mayhem,” they added.
Read the full statement below:
