Clerk of Parliament Hon Paran Tarawally as advice to the speaker of parliament asked members of the opposition (APC) to take their seats in five minutes and maintain decorum or else he would order the police officers to remove them from the well of parliament.
This is the second time Paran Tarawally has ordered the Sierra Leone Police to throw members out of Parliament
He did that after the 2018 election in the controversial election of Dr Abass Bundu as Speaker of Parliament.
The recent chaos in Parliament started when the Acting Opposition Leader Hon Hassan A. Sesay stated that from the report he got from the opposition Leader Hon Chernor R.M Bah the regulations should not have been in the order paper.
“The Leader of government business Hon Mathew Nyuma together with the leader of the opposition agreed that the document should be laid on November 24th 2022 not on November 23rd 2022,”
Hon Sesay stated that members of parliament received the document on Tuesday November 22nd and that it would be difficult for them to digest the content of the document.
Hon Alpha Amadu Bah quoted section 38(a) of the Constitution of Sierra Leone that the two documents that is supposed to be laid in the house of parliament t are statutory instruments and that what they are about to amend is a creature of the constitution, noting that the documents do not make reference to any local council and that the district block system does not make any reference to independent candidate
He said that the paper should not be laid because it is not properly before the house of parliament.
The Leader of government business Hon Mathew Nyuma cited section 33 which states that the Electoral Commission has the right to hold election.
Hon Nyuma made mentioned of section 171 of the Public Election Act and Regulation 38, pointing out that, their own business as members of parliament is to make sure procedures are followed.
The Speaker of Parliament Dr. Abass Bundu after listen to both sides said that both sides want to put the cat before the horse as they have simply said nothing.
The acting Opposition Leader asked the speaker to allow him to be heard but he was not countenanced rather the Speaker ordered the Deputy Minister to lay the regulation and it is in this process the scuffle ensued.
This prompted the opposition MPs to take mace and the members of parliament across the divide started pelting water bottles and all other things they could find their hands on. This forced the speaker to move out of the well but when he came back into the well, the opposition where standing at the Well of Parliament saying that they want speaker to adjourned the seating and to talk to them at Committee Room No.1 or else they would not take their seat .
Hon Lahai Marah said that speaker was imposed on them for a specific purpose and this is what they are seeing as ten members of parliament were removed illegally with no bye- election held.
It was at this point the Clerk of parliament has to order the police to remove them out of parliament so that the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice Umaru Napolean Koroma will lay the two documents in the well of parliament.
Speaking last Thursday 24 November in Parliament, Dr. Abass Bundu said that commotion that took place on Wednesday November 23 depicts that the Members of Parliament have no respect for him and that those responsible for the destruction of properties will pay for it as he would no longer tolerate that.
