Armed military personnel storm Chamber of Parliament amidst chaos over secret voting

The election of the Leadership of the 8th Parliament degenerated into a full-blown crisis with armed military personnel storming the chamber of Parliament to restore order.

In a very dramatic low-point for Ghana’s democracy, the MPs-elect who had argued all night over the secret ballot protocol were visited in the chamber by about two dozen heavily-armed soldiers in addition to a similar number of armed police personnel.

The armed to teeth military men clashed with MPs who sang and chanted patriotic songs including the national anthem.

The MPs chanted in the face of the military urging them to leave; that the military had no right to order them to sit down. At this stage, the NPP MPs sat down, apparently comfortable with the presence of the police and soldiers.

The soldiers had stormed the chamber after yet another chaos broke out over the election of the Speaker of Parliament.

While the NPP preferred that their Chief Whips should inspect the ballots by their Members-elect, the NDC, on the other hand, were insistent on secret ballot as enshrined in the Standing Orders.

This resulted in the MP for Asawase Muntaka Mubarak snatching a ballot box and throwing it away.

Later, the ballot boxes and voting boots were again disassembled by angry MPs.