I didn’t instruct the military to invade Parliament – Chief Marshal clarifies

The Chief Marshall of Parliament, Col. John Buntugu Rtd., has denied ever inviting the military personnel into the Parliamentary chamber on Thursday dawn during the inauguration of the 8th Parliament.

Armed military persons invaded the parliamentary chamber at a time the NDC and NPP MPs were engaged in heated arguments over the processes involved in the election of the new speaker of the 8th Parliament.

Their presence has since attracted condemnation from the MPs and other relevant bodies with some holding the marshal of parliament responsible since he is in charge of the general security of the House.

But denying such claims, he said: “We have a police station in the Parliament House, but it is under the Marshal of Parliament. We don’t have soldiers. The soldiers were not under my instruction. I don’t know what actually happened [but] I saw them in the Chamber and I spoke with their commanders when I realized that it was counterproductive, and they left”.

He also denied claims that a marshal in the chamber tried to slip an object into a ballot box.

“He guarded the ballot box with his life so when he saw some people approaching, he positioned himself and had a Taser in his pocket, so he positioned himself and that is why his hand was on the Taser, but it wasn’t that he was drawing something to put in the ballot box. I can vouch for him with my life. I am a very honest person, and he is a professional,” he asserted in an interview with Citi FM.

The Parliamentary Service of Ghana has also established that none of its staff attempted to stuff a ballot box with papers during the election of the Speaker of the 8th Parliament on January 7.