The sequence of events that led to a Member of Parliament being brought to the House in an ambulance is not entirely clear.
The facts, however, are that a gory accident happened involving the lawmaker in question, Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru who also doubles as MP for Nanton.
That he was brought to Parliament in an ambulance and he was rushed back to a hopsital to receive emergency care.
Situation one: Accident confirmed
Photos shared on social media platforms late Friday, March 31, 2023; showed a badly mangled saloon car the MP was purportedly riding in at the time of the accident.
The Nanton MP was reportedly on his way to parliament when the incident occured. It is yet to be established whether he was in the company of a driver or he was driving himself.
Situation two: Brought to Parliament in ambulance
Whiles there are no details of how he was fetched with the ambulance and when the decision was taken to take him to Parliament, some news reports have suggested that he was driven from the accident scene to Parliament.
His presence in parliament was to help the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) successfully approve three new taxes.
The three new taxes were: Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022.
Situation three: Taken back to hospital after tax vote
Starr News senior reporter Francis Abban and a number of Parliamentary correspondents confirmed that the ailing MP was taken straight to the hospital 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 comes down to join 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.”
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
Bagbin defends mode of voting
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.”
“I did not do anything untoward. I only followed the rules.”