Watch | Chaos erupts in Ghana Parliament, lawmakers fight, break furniture

Furniture was overturned, microphones were destroyed, and lawmakers exchanged blows.

Updated: February 2, 2025 12:24 AM IST

2 min read

The clash occurred during the vetting of ministerial nominees from the ruling National Democratic Congress. (X/@SaharaReporters)

Chaos erupted in Ghana’s Parliament late Thursday night as lawmakers clashed violently, overturning furniture and engaging in physical altercations during a heated session to vet new ministerial appointments.

Police were called into the session—as the vetting committee had clashed over multiple issues, with some accusing opposition MPs of deliberately prolonging the process to settle political scores, BBC reported.

On Friday morning, the chairman of the vetting committee apologised to the Ghanaian public, calling the incident “totally unacceptable.”

As per the reports, the cross-party committee had been scheduled to vet three lawmakers from the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), who were nominated for ministerial positions following the NDC’s victory over the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in December’s elections.

However, NDC MPs accused Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the NPP’s leader in parliament, of unnecessarily prolonging the questioning of the ministerial nominees.

More than five hours were spent vetting just one nominee—communications minister-designate Samuel Nartey George. Many NDC MPs believed this was a form of political retribution by opposition MPs, who wanted George to retract his past criticism of former president and NPP leader Nana Akufo-Addo and his vice-president, Mahamadu Bawumia.

The dispute escalated into a physical altercation, with committee members shouting, pushing, shoving, and overturning tables.

Story continues below this ad

As a result, the Speaker of Parliament suspended four lawmakers—three from the NPP and one from the governing party—for two weeks.

On Friday, Afenyo-Markin defended the NPP’s approach, arguing that parliamentary customs allow committee members “the opportunity to enquire deeply into every nominee of the president, without limit to questions.” He accused the NDC of attempting to “frustrate” this process.

Due to the chaos, the vetting was adjourned until Friday, BBC reported.

From the homepage