Alhaji Muntaka calls the ‘House’ untruthful for concealing 15 COVID-19 cases in Parliament from Ghanaians
Alhaji Muntaka calls the ‘House’ untruthful for concealing 15 COVID-19 cases in Parliament from Ghanaians
Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Asawase Constituency in the Ashanti Region has called the House untruthful for covering up 15 COVID-19 cases in Parliament.
According to him, denials by Parliament that no MP or staff had tested positive for the deadly respiratory ailment had smeared the institution of Parliament as an untruthful one.
Alhaji Muntaka insisted that two of his colleagues have indeed tested positive for COVID-19.
Parliament, through its Director of Public Affairs, Kate Addo on Tuesday dismissed media reports that two lawmakers and 13 Parliamentary Service staffs had tested positive for the virus.
“Parliament would like to state categorically that the results of the tests are not yet known and so the report is not true,” she said.
However, in an interaction with the media on Wednesday in Parliament, Alhaji Muntaka stated that the reports were the true reflection of the situation in the House.
According to him, the test results for Wednesday May 20, 2020 indicated that one MP and a parliamentary staff tested positive and the next day, one other MP and 12 staffs also tested positive.
Alhaji Muntaka noted that some parliamentarians called for mass testing for Parliament, the Judiciary and the Executive to deal with stigma for people to see that someone like Muntaka has tested positive and is going through the protocol, which makes the process of protocol not hell as what people thought.
“To conceal this is an abominable offense because it is not in the national interest.
If you do that, you will be endangering the lives of other Members of Parliament and staff. You must tell the truth and tell people what steps are being taken to address it,” Alhaji Muntaka spewed.
The leadership of Parliament, he said was aware of the situation and that was why Speaker Aaron Mike Oquaye had to repeat the need for the testing and making it compulsory for that matter.
“To lie to the public to me is most unfortunate. Parliament should be the last to be doing this especially when it is in the national interest for people to know,” Alhaji Muntaka added.
Those tested positive, he stated had been isolated and tracing of their contacts was underway.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament, Mike Aaron Oquaye, on the floor of the House had cautioned MP and Ghanaians in general against declaring the coronavirus status of others.
He said one cannot unilaterally put into the public realm that a person is positive, adding that “let every person know in this republic it is only for an individual to voluntarily put it in the public realm.”
The Speaker urged the house and individual to desist from making headline with others status.
Such sensationalism which is on going, he said should stop because they rather encourage stigmatisation.
BY JOYCELINE NATALLY CUDJOE
