‘All die be die’ causes anger in Parliament
Contributions to a statement by the Member of Parliament for Wa East, Salifu Ameen, on the high rent charges and its impact on the ordinary man was disrupted for a considerable number of minutes yesterday when the Member for Nanton, Murtala Muhammed Ibrahim (NDC), sought to intervene and draw the Speaker’s attention to an anomaly.
Advertisement
The Member for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh (NPP), had caught the eye of the Speaker and in his contribution accused the government of abandoning the affordable housing scheme began by the NPP government.
But Mr Ibrahim, in his bid to point out to Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, who was in the Speaker’s chair, that Mr Annoh-Dompreh’s statement was likely to spark a debate and that he should be made to limit his contribution to the statement made by Mr Ameen, was heckled by the Minority, who shouted at him to resume his seat
But Mr Ibrahim stood his ground, adding “All die be die” to his comments.
That catchphrase, drew the ire of the Minority and resulted in about 12 of them rising to their feet in unison and hurling abuses at the Nanton MP.
“How dare you”, “You are not correct in the head”, “You are indisciplined”, were some of the abuses and comments made by the Minority on top of their voices. The abuses and comments were accompanied by the pointing of fingers at Mr Ibrahim.
They found the catchphrase offensive and asked Mr Ibrahim to withdraw.
The shouts were so deafening that it disrupted proceedings.
Mr Barton-Odro appeared to be overwhelmed by the lack of order and decorum and found it extremely difficult calming the Minority members down.
It was, however, not clear whether he heard some of the abusive words by the Minority members.
When calm finally prevailed, the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (NPP, Suame), said by the rules of the House the use of offensive language was not permitted and was of the view that Mr Ibrahim, who is also a deputy minister of Information, should not have used that phrase.
He said the focus of the House should have been on the important statement made by Mr Ameen and how the problems he had drawn the attention of the House to could be addressed.
There was no need, he said, to unnecessarily raise the “temperature” in the House.
Mr Barton-Odro was of the view that Mr Annoh-Dompreh, in his contributions, was veering into a debate which Mr Ibrahim had sought to draw attention to but he (Ibrahim) should not have used the “All die be die” phrase.
He urged Mr Annoh-Dompreh to stay within limits and Mr Ibrahim to withdraw.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also expressed the same views.
Mr Ibrahim, after some “internal struggle”, withdrew the phrase.
Mr Ameen, in his statement earlier, said many Ghanaians lacked decent accommodation while landlords took advantage of the situation to charge exorbitant rent from desperate people who required a place to lay their heads.
Currently, he said, some Ghanaians live in sub-standard homes where basic facilities such as decent places of convenience and bathrooms were non-existent or were in very deplorable states.
He said there was the urgent need to reduce the current housing deficit which stood at 1.6 million.
He said research available pointed to the fact that the deficit would not take less than 15 years to address, even at a rate of 100,000 units per annum.
As a first step to addressing the problem, he said there was the need for the adoption of the national housing policy, which had been at the drafting stage for the past seven years.
“Other measures which can help reduce the housing deficit for the benefit of the ordinary man is to take a critical look at the current supply chain situation of various building materials. In particular, the use of local building materials should be promoted and encouraged,” he said.
Mr J.B Adu Danquah (NPP, Abuakwa North), said until the national housing stock was increased, rents would remain high.
He appealed to the Ministry of Works and Housing, the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to consider the promotion of steel and other kinds of cement in order to bring the cost of buildings down.
That, he said, would bring down the high rent charged by landlords.
Ms Laadi Ayii Ayamba (NDC, Pusiga) urged the Rent Control Department to work hand-in-hand with landlords to reduce rent.
Mr Kyei Mensah Bonsu said the country was able to provide only 30,000 housing units annually and added that the situation pointed to the fact that Ghana was “in trouble” as far as housing was concerned.
The government, he said, should ease the problem by providing titles to land and ensuring that prices of locally manufactured steel products, such as iron rods, were reduced drastically, among other things.
Several other MPs contributed to the statement.
By Mark-Anthony Vinorkor/Daily Graphic/Ghana