The Minority will not apologise for calling the MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Lydia Alhassan, a “bloody widow” the despite pressure from the public and fellow parliamentarians.
The Minority Spokesperson, A.B.A. Fuseini said “nobody from the Minority will make that kind of apology. It is not going to come today. It won’t come tomorrow. It will never come.”
He was speaking on Eyewitness News after it was decided that the Minority MPs who held up placards with the inscription “bloody widow” would be identified and asked to apologise.
In the Minority’s defence, Mr. Fuseini retorted that Lydia Alhassan was not an MP when the insulting placards were held up.
The Minority walked out of Parliament before she was sworn in.
“At the time all those things were being held up; the bloody widow thing that we held up, she was not a Member of Parliament. She was as Member of Parliament-elect. There is a difference,” Mr. Fuseini argued.
“The apology [asked for] was meant for her as a Member of Parliament, and I am telling you straight that she was not a Member of Parliament,” he added.
In addition, Mr. Fuseini insisted that referring any Minority MP to Parliament’s Privileges Committee was flawed.
“Mr. Speaker didn’t even get this right. There is no basis on which anybody could have been brought to the Privileges Committee on the account that language unparliamentary had been used on a Member of Parliament. She [Lydia Alhassan] was not a Member of Parliament and did not qualify for that language to be applied to her.”
Like the NDC MP for Kumbungu, Mr. Fuseini also justified the use of the “bloody widow” to describe to describe Lydia Alhassan.
“Never in the annals of our country’s history have we seen the state elevate terrorism to that level to terrorized political opponents with brutal force… For whom was the bloodshed? It was done because of Seyram Alhassan. It was done because of her so she has blood on her hands.”
Condemnation from Majority Women’s caucus
The Majority Women’s caucus in Parliament has condemned the Minority’s conduct and demanded an apology.
At a press conference in Parliament on Wednesday, leader of the caucus and Deputy Majority leader, Adwoa Safo called on the Minority to render an unqualified apology to the widow of the late Ayawaso MP for their action.
“We the women of the majority caucus are grossly disappointed in the attitude and the language of the Minority members against Lydia Alhassan on the various placards displayed in the chamber yesterday. We hereby in no uncertain terms condemn the act of the Minority a rather disrespectful and inhumane treatment and an attack on the dignity of womanhood.”
“This is brutal and unparliamentary. Order 93 (2) of our standing order says it will be out of order to use offensive, abusive, insulting, blasphemous or unbecoming words or to impute an improper motive to any member or to make personal allusions…Widowhood is not a crime, neither will any woman want to become a widow. The Minority must bow down their heads in shame and render an unqualified apology to the honourable Member of Parliament, Lydia Seyram Alhassan.”
Source:citinewsroom.com