MPs Hunt Juju

Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu THE SPEAKER of Parliament, Rt. Hon Justice Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo has directed the leadership of Parliament to set up a three-member committee to investigate the possible use of supernatural powers or 'juju' to outwit political opponents in the legislature.

The committee, according to the Speaker, should be mandated to probe how a piece of lead probably laced with potential juju was fixed beneath the seats of the Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Suame in the Ashanti Region, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu to ostensibly charm and subdue him into docility or reduce him to a moron known in Ghanaian parlance as 'gyimi-gyimi'.

Furthermore, the committee should, as part of its mandate, give appropriate recommendations on how to strictly ensure the safety and security of Members of Parliament within and outside Parliament, and look at the possibility of instituting a Security Committee of Parliament to see to the protection of Members.

The Speaker's request followed an official statement made on the Floor of the House yesterday by the Minority Leader, Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu on the aforementioned issue, entreating the House to investigate what he described as a serious matter.

It would be recalled that DAILY GUIDE on January 19, 2009 broke the news on how voodoo, which involves magical spells, charms and sorcery, has been introduced into the Ghanaian Parliament, the nation's second most powerful arm of government, through the fixing of foreign materials beneath the chair of the Minority Leader in the House without the knowledge of security guards.

This is happening at a time Parliament is almost evenly divided between the Majority and Minority caucuses and every effort is being made to subdue political opponents in the legislature.

Making the statement, Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu recounted that he complained openly about his seat Wednesday January 7, 2009 in the Chamber of the House.

According to the Minority Leader, on Thursday January 15 when the Estate Department called for its replacement, it was noticed that the seat he had been sitting on all the while had been tampered with.

“Rt. Hon. Speaker, it may be instructive to be informed that the following day Friday 16, 2009, it was discovered that the seat in my office had also been tampered with in just the same manner as the one in the Chamber,” Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu added.

According to him, it was detected at the time that out of the 230 seats for Members in the House, his was the only one that had been so tampered with, indicating that the Estate Officer at Parliament had insisted that his Department had not called for any such 'refitting'.

He noted that lead is a highly toxic metallic element and poses a great deal of danger to persons when they are exposed to it, aside the attributions of those who believe in the occult and other mysterious forces.

“Madam Speaker, I believe not in occultism or the so-called powers of the mysterious forces of darkness”, the Minority Leader stated, affirming his trust in and reliance on the Almighty God for protection against any possible attempt to 'juju' him into docility.

Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu questioned how his seats were smuggled out of the Chamber block and brought back or substituted for not less than three days without the installed security cameras in the Chamber helping to identify the person or people who did the tampering in both instances.

In contributing, the Majority Leader and MP for Nadowli West, Hon. Alban S. K. Bagbin said the first time he read the story in DAILY GUIDE, he thought it was sheer lunacy, wondering why people should use occultism to achieve their objective in this modern era.

He said now that the issue had officially come to the Floor of Parliament, it was important to do thorough investigation on the matter and also strengthen the security of Parliament, giving the assurance that the Leadership of the House would carry out the directives of the Speaker.

By Bennett Akuaku