Ms Adwoa Sarfo
THE Majority Women Caucus in Parliament has slammed the Minority for labelling the newly elected Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency a “bloody widow.”
Describing as “barbaric, brutal, frivolous, unparliamentary and unconstitutional” the inscriptions displayed by the Minority moments before Madam Lydia Seyram Alhasan was sworn-in on Tuesday, the female MPs are demanding an unqualified apology from the Minority Caucus.
The Minority displayed placards with the inscription: “Bloody Widow”, and stormed out of Parliament House when the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu, was about to swear in Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the wife of the late MP for the Ayawaso West area.
The Minority, a day after the by-election which elected Madam Lydia, served notice that it would not accept the outcome of the polls which was characterised by violence.
It said the violence which led to the injury of at least 18 people, believed to be sympathisers of the opposition National Democratic Congress, was a “blot on the conscience of our democratic evolution” and could not produce a Member of Parliament “unless that member wants to become a product of violence.”
But at a press conference in Parliament, Accra, yesterday, the Deputy Majority Leader, Sarah Adwoa Safo said the position of their colleagues on Madam Lydia Alhassan was disappointing.
“We hereby condemn in no uncertain terms the act of the Minority; a rather disrespectful and inhumane treatment and an attack on the dignity and integrity of womanhood.
“This is brutal and unparliamentary. We are absolutely convinced that the language of the placard was grossly unparliamentary, frivolous, barbaric and unconstitutional,” Madam Adwoa Safo stated.
She said through such unfortunate and “unconventional” circumstances, widows had the chance to represent their late husbands in Parliament and that Madam Lydia Alhassan’s case could not be any different.
Apart from the apology they are demanding for, Ms Safo, MP, Dome-Kwabenya said the caucus would formally draw the attention of the Speaker to the conduct of the Minority MPs.
“The Minority must bow down their head in shame and render an unqualified apology to the Honourable Member of Parliament, Honourable Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassan as expected of Honourable members,” Adwoa Safo stressed.
While Parliaments around the globe were making efforts to have an all-inclusive legislature, she said it was disappointing that the Minority had descended to a level that taints the work of Parliament in increasing the number of female MPs.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
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