Deputy agric minister and MP for Nanton Alhaji Hardi Tufeiru was brought to parliament to vote on three new taxes on Friday evening, March 31.
He had hours prior been involved in a gory accident that meant he would ordinarily have missed the sitting, which situation would have meant his side will lose the vote.
Consequently, reports say he was ferried to parliament in an ambulance and allowed by leave of the Speaker to cast his ballot first so as to be taken back to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Starr News senior reporter Francis Abban and a number of Parliamentary correspondents confirmed the development with some posting a video of the moment the MP was taken back to the ambulance after voting.
In the video sighted by GhanaWeb, four men believed to be colleague MPs are seen around the ambulance as one other clims down to join them before they head back into the main building.
Abban captioned the video thus: “That’s the video of the ambulance that is sending the Nanton MP Alhaji Tufeiru to the hospital for medical care. Source- @Starr1035Fm’s parliamentary correspondent @IBGlobe. 2 more bills to decide on by the house. We are in for a long night.”
That’s the video of the ambulance that is sending the Nanton MP Alhaji Tufeiru to the hospital for medical care. Source- @Starr1035Fm’s parliamentary correspondent @IBGlobe. 2 more bills to decide on by the house. We are in for a long night. pic.twitter.com/QujpQpKh4U
— Francis Abban (@francis_abban) March 31, 2023
Photos shared on social media platforms showed a badly mangled saloon car the MP was purportedly riding in at the time of the accident.
The Nanton MP was, however, taken to Parliament to help the NPP successfully approve three new taxes before he was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.
The three new taxes are: Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022.
Even though he was not physically available in the Chamber at the time of voting, Speaker Alban Bagbin justified the reason for allowing his vote to be counted stating that he only followed procedures.
”Members who are incapacitated shall upon reporting their incapacity to the Speaker through the Clerk shall be recorded. We have some of our members that are incapacitated and what I did was to ask the Whips to go and physically see them to assess their incapacitation and whether they are of sound mind.
Source: Ghana Web
