MPs Who Held Up Bloody Widow Placards May Never Be Punished

The office of the Clerk of Parliament is unable to identify MPs who have been cited for contempt for displaying bloody widow placards from parliament house video footage.

However, the Speaker of parliament has directed the Minority MPs who displayed the placards earlier this month be identified from the footage and referred to the privileges committee after Minority Leadership refused to apologise for the act.

The deputy Majority Speaker, Adwoa Sarfo, has also stated that the identification of specific members has been a challenge since the footage from the house is not visible enough.

She stated however that, "the video footage, however, has been presented to the first deputy speaker and leadership would take the matter up and if parliament tape is not visible as they are being told from the Public Affairs Directorate, then I believe that day, there were other media men in the chamber who might have recorded what happened and we won't rest on that but make sure we get the tape to reach the first deputy speaker and the privileges committee to identify specific members".

The Minority in Parliament, on 5 February 2019 boycotted the swearing in of Ms Lydia Alhassan, who was elected the Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency.

The Minority walked out of Parliament in protest of the swearing in of newly elected MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Lydia Seyram Alhassan. Some Minority MPs shouted shame and jeered as the Speaker of Parliament read the summons from the Electoral Commission.

Some also held up placards which read “bloody widow”, in reference to the confusion in the incidents of brutality from National Security personnel during the by-election.