Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, the member of parliament for Damongo, has denied claims that he verbally assaulted Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, the daughter of the late former president Jerry John Rawlings, who is the member of parliament for Klottey Korle.
On Tuesday, February 4, during parliamentary proceedings, a man’s voice could be heard yelling, “Daughter of a murderer, sit down! Daughter of a murderer, sit down!“ The outburst occurred while Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin was addressing the House and calling for calm.
The statement was made amid contentious debates around Joseph Boakye Danquah’s 60th anniversary of passing. When Ibrahim Murtala Muhammad, the MP for Tamale Central, questioned what he called the Minority’s inflated laudations of JB Danquah’s legacy, tensions increased.
As the argument became heated, Andrew Asiamah, the presiding Speaker, decided to restrict participation to parliamentary leadership alone, thereby silencing other members of parliament.
The Speaker ignored Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings’s request for permission to speak, letting Afenyo-Markin speak instead. This caused more chaos in the room, which culminated in the insulting statement made about Dr. Rawlings.
Social media reports after the incident said that Jinapor made the comment. But in an interview with media on Wednesday, February 5, he strongly refuted the accusations, calling them false and unfounded.
“Anybody who followed my career, and my involvement in my public life in all modesty will attest to the fact that I don’t speak in that nature and manner, the words which are forcefully being attributed to me are not words that I will use, secondly, I didn’t even know that such words had been altered.
“I found out this morning when the trending video was brought to my attention, and what I can say about that, is that it is false. I don’t even speak across the aisle in parliament. If I want to speak I draw the attention of the speaker before I speak, the allegations are false. I have huge respect for Former president Rawlings.”
