(Mr Osei-Owusu says some MPs have grossly disregarded laid down security procedures)
First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, is accusing Parliamentarians of breaching the security protocol in the House.
Mr Osei-Owusu says some MPs have grossly disregarded laid down security procedures and used their tags to give access to their visitors into the premises and loiter about.
He noted that in some instances, the MPs argue with the security personnel who stand their grounds and refuse to admit guests into the premises.
The comments by the Bekwai MP, follows a statement on the Floor Friday, by his Builsa South counterpart, Dr Clement Apaak, who is worried about the level of potential attack MPs are exposed to in the House.
His anxiety was heightened by an attempted suicide by Kojo Mensah, 35, in the public gallery of Parliament on Thursday.
Responding to Dr Apaak’s concern, Mr Osei-Owusu who chaired proceedings of the House on the day, said on many occasions when the rules are breached, the MPs were found to have played a role.
“Anybody who enters was aided by one person or another. If we breach the rules, if we quarrel with security officers who prevent visitors we have not approved [then] how will the security officers be able to assist us?”
However, MP for Manhyia North Constituency, Collins Owusu-Amankwaah, says despite the importance in paying strict adherence to the House’s security arrangements, there is the need to consider the difficult situations that the MPs sometimes find themselves.
“How do you sack the very people who elected you? We only have to appeal to them that there are rules of engagement,” the Deputy Chair of the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, told Gifty Andoh Appiah on Top Story on Joy FM.
Although Mr Owusu-Amankwaah concedes the security of MPs cannot be compromised, he wants the House to sometimes “give a human face” when implementing rules.