Bloody Widow Placard: James Agalga should be ashamed of himself – Paul Adom Otchere

The host of Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV, Paul Adom Otchere, has condemned the Minority in parliament for their highest level of disdain in welcoming Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the newly elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso West Wuogon, with placards inscribed ‘Bloody Widow’.

According to him, their reaction is of the 'dark age' where Ghana is viewed as an uncivilized country with no respect for women.

Mr Adom Otchere believes the Minority reaction was a wanton abuse for procedure.

Paul Adom Otchere was of the view that walking out of parliament in registering a protest is something that is acceptable as ‘normal’ parliamentary practice, but to put out a poster to call a colleague MP ‘bloody widow’ is uncalled for.

“The honourable James Agalga should be ashamed of himself,” he stated on his Good Evening Ghana show on Metro TV.

Recollecting when the NPP wore dark clothes to welcome the late President Atta-Mills in Parliament, Mr Adom Otchere said it was condemned by all and sundry.

“There is James Agalga, a former deputy minister for the Interior, holding ‘bloody widow’ to a woman who contested elections after her husband died…..this is the NDC Minority in Parliament's day of shame; it’s a day of disgrace and it’s a horrible day in the annals of Ghana’s parliament,” Mr Adom Otchere observed with disappointments.

“To call the honourable Member of Parliament, who has become Member of Parliament and who will continue to play her role as a Member of Parliament…..she is going to sit with some of these people in the committees in Parliament and they put up a poster and say ‘bloody widow’……my goodness!”, he charged.

He asked Ghanaians to condemn the action of the minority and demonstrate that women are respected within the Ghanaian society.



Minority Walk-out

Hon. Lydia Seyram Alhassan was sworn into Parliament Tuesday, by taking the Oath of Allegiance and the Oath of Member of Parliament, administered by the First Deputy Speaker, Hon. Joseph Osei Owusu.

Moments before her swearing-in, however, the Minority in Parliament staged a walkout of Parliament in protest at what they described as state-sponsored violence during the bye-election at Ayawaso West Wuogon.

Sam George's justification

Samuel George Nartey, the NDC MP for Ningo-Prampram, has been justifying the Minority’s display of the 'Bloody Widow' placards.

Speaking on the same platform, Sam George described his side’s action as “normal parliamentary practice”. He alluded to instances where even President Akufo-Addo and the late President Atta Mills suffered similar heckling while delivering the State of the Nation address.

"It is a fact that the Ayawaso West Wuogon polls was a bloody bye-election...our description was apt....I will urge Lydia Alhassan to take it in good faith since this is a normal parliamentary practice," he said.

By-Election Result

Lydia Seyram Alhassan replaced her husband as Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency in Accra after winning the by-election held on Thursday, 31st January 2019.

Alhassan, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, was the second wife of the late MP Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko.

She polled 68.80 per cent of the valid votes cast.

Her closest challenger, Kwasi Delali Brempong of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) polled 30.52 per cent, while William Kofi Dowuokpor of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) and Clement Boadi of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) polled 0.58 and 0.10 per cent respectively.



Shooting Incident

The conduct of the polls was marred by a shooting incident at the residence of Kwasi Delali Brempong, the NDC candidate.

This resulted in injuries to 18 persons and an assault on an election observer at one of the polling stations.

The Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service has commenced investigations into the shooting incident.

Meanwhile, the government of Ghana has established a three-member Commission of Inquiry to determine among other things what caused the election violence.

Francis Emile Short, a former Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), chairs the Commission which also includes law professor, Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu and a former Inspector-General of Police, Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong.

Dr. Ernest Kofi Abotsi, a private legal practitioner and former Dean of the GIMPA Law School, has also been appointed as Secretary to the Commission, according to the statement issued and signed Wednesday by Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications at the Jubilee House.

According to the Jubilee House press statement, the Commission is to:

(a) make a full, faithful and impartial inquiry into the circumstances of and establish the facts leading to the events and associated violence during the Ayawaso West Wuogon bye-election on the 31st day of January 2019;

(b) identify any person responsible for or who has been involved in the events, associated violence and injuries;

(c) inquire into any matter which the Commission considers incidental or reasonably related to the causes of the events and the associated violence and injuries; and

(d) submit within one month its report to the President giving reasons for its findings and recommendations, including appropriate sanctions, if any.