Member of Parliament for Bongo Constituency Edward Abambire Bawa has disclosed he was nearly handed a slap by Bolgatanga East Member of Parliament, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine for proposing that pictures of their votes for approval of ministerial nominees be taken.
According to Edward Bawa, the vehement disapproval by Dr Ayine when he [Edward Bawa] suggested to him to ensure he takes a photograph of his vote for future reasons was nearly accompanied with a slap.
Minority Members of Parliament have been heavily berated by a section of Ghanaians particular members of the opposition National Democratic Congress for defying a directive of the party and going ahead to approve some ministerial nominees of President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo.
It emerged that over 30 MP’s from the minority side of parliament voted in favour of the nominees. Though it is unclear which individuals voted affirmatively in the secret voting exercise, the party and former President John Dramani Mahama have described the action as treacherous and a betrayal.
Amidst the heavy apprehension amongst the rank and file of the party, evidence of some of the minority MP’s voting against the nominees as directed by the party popped up. Pictures of their votes surfaced to prove that they indeed voted against the nominees.
One of the several NDC members of parliament who are said to have taken a picture of their vote was Edward Bawa.
He explained in an interview on Dreamz Fm’s State of Our Nation show that his decision to take a picture of his vote was influenced by fears he harboured that issues could emerge after the exercise based on some developments he observed while the voting exercise was ongoing.
“If you see the line that I sit on in parliament, at the extreme end you have Muntala Mohammed, Nogbe the Ashaiman MP, Yussif of Bole, myself, Suhuyine of Tamale North, Dafeamakpor, Isaac Adongo and Jinapor, we form that line. The people call that line in parliament the radical line because anything that has to begin in terms of resistance, starts from that line. It doesn’t start from leadership. On that day, based on the stories that we were hearing and the issues that were happening that I refuse to delve into, I decided that was going to take a picture of it [vote] just for posterity,” he said.
Edward Bawa further recounted that he subsequently advised his colleagues who were yet to vote to endeavour to take a picture of their vote.
Though they didn’t know what the outcome of the exercise would be based on the signals and developments they had noticed, taking evidence of the votes was crucial.
The Member of Parliament for Bongo stated that it would be unfair for his colleagues who did not take pictures of their votes to be accused of voting in favour of the nominees.
He mentioned the likes of former Deputy Attorney General Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine who saw the proposal to take evidence of their votes as an affront to the principles and tenets of secret voting.
“I remember that walked to Honourable Dominic Ayine and told him in Frafra that the way things are going, if we don’t take pictures of our votes, our hands would be used to collect faeces. You know that he is a former Deputy Attorney General and he is a senior lawyer with more than 25 years experience at the bar. To be very sincere with you, he almost slapped me. He told me ‘Eddy how do you expect me as a lawyer and former Deputy Attorney General to defy the rules of secret balloting and take a picture. How do I explain that’. He said it based on principle,” Edward Bawa recounted.
He therefore cautioned against any attempt to point to those who have no evidence of their votes as the traitors.
