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The Majority Women caucus in Parliament have questioned the motive behind the attack on the person of Lydia Seyram Alhassan, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency.

The minority in Parliament walked out of the House brandishing placards with the inscription 'bloody widow' during the swearing in of Lydia Seyram Alhassan, newly elected MP for the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency.

According to them, she is a product of an illegality and so they cannot 'dignify her swearing in with their presence'.

The use of the inscription 'bloody widow' has been condemned by several people including Member of Parliament for Tano North, Madam Freda Prempeh.

Meanwhile, the minority are relentless as they feel the 'bloody widow' placard is not an insult but a description.

MP for Tamale Central, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini says “she is a product of a bloody protest; it is never an assault. We described the outcome of the process and she is a major beneficiary of the ‘bloody process’. We are not insulting her, we are just describing her status in our opinion. Things take their colour from their surroundings. The process which led to her victory was bloody; her status is a widow but what happened at Ayawaso was bloody, so we combined the two ‘bloody widow. It doesn’t infringe on any law; it is freedom of speech. What we are doing is not politics; it is well thought-through. That is the description we have chosen to give her, and it is fine with us.” 

Reacting to this development at a press conference, MP for Asokwa constituency, Patricia Appiagyei said: “to be honest with you, there is something I want us all to take note of: we conducted an election and that election was not conducted by Lydia. It was conducted by the Electoral Commission. If there has been any incident, I don’t see how you can attack the personality of the candidate. If you are actually concerned about the way or how the people got to be there to cause that kind of [mayhem] that came about during the election, it is not Lydia’s to answer those questions. So, why are you boycotting her swearing-in? It has nothing to do with her.

She says the majority see it as a personal attack.

"We don’t know what is motivating them to attack her that way, and that is our very serious concern because they are antagonising her. Coming to parliament for the first time to meet such a reaction should be taken with exception and we condemn it utterly,” she added.