The Minority in Parliament yesterday staged their maiden walk out from the law making house over what they described as an insult on their personalities as legislators and members of the honourable House of Representatives.

This followed an assertion by the MP for Sene, Hon. Twumasi Appiah, to the effect that New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs of the last parliament misapplied public funds by receiving an amount of $5,000 dollars each before approving the Vodafone deal.

This did not go down well with the minority who demanded that the Speaker should ask the member to withdraw the allegation he had made because he can not substantiate it as has been stipulated in the standing orders.

The deputy Minority leader, Hon. Ambrose Dery said the member should be made to withdraw those words because colleague members should not be allowed to take other people's reputation for granted.

The standoff erupted when the MP for Bimbilla, Mr. Dominic Nitiwul, was contributing to the motion on the economic governance and poverty reduction credit agreement between the government and the international development association, for an amount of US$ 300 million for general budget support.

The member stated that the money that the government is seeking for should not be misapplied but should be used for the intended purpose and not for the purchase of pampers, meat or used for tea party.

He alleged that the loan should be on flexible terms so that it can be used judiciously to provide jobs for the people, especially the youth, like the national youth employment programme.

All attempts by the Speaker to get the Sene MP to withdraw the allegation proved futile, as the MP stood by his words that his utterance had merit because a member of the minority had made that submission publicly on a radio station.

The majority leader, Hon. Alban Bagbin, said the matter raised by the Sene MP needs to be referred to the Privileges committee because it affects the reputation of parliament and also erodes the fabric of democracy.

He said the committee should deal with the issue expeditiously so that based on their findings, they can convince the generality of the populace. Hon. Bagbin mentioned that it is a matter of defamation, as such it cannot be easily withdrawn, but needs to be investigated to enable them get to the bottom of the matter and restore the integrity of the house. The Speaker, Justice Joyce Bamford Addo accepted the position of the majority leader and referred the matter to the Privileges committee for attention and report.

Addressing the media after the boycott, Minority Leader, Hon. Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, said they would continue to abstain from voting in the house until the matter was thoroughly dealt with.

He added that although they appreciate that government business must go on, the committee must expedite action on the referral because an impression has been created that they have sold their voting rights.