George Mireku Duker, Member of Parliament (MP) for Tarkwa-Nsuaem constituency, has jumped to the defence of his fellow MPs who have reportedly contracted COVID-19 and are said to have been attending Parliamentary proceedings.

Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin confirmed that some MPs have tested positive for COVID-19 and  admonished them to strictly adhere to the safety protocols.

“Even in the House, some members are afflicted by the COVID-19. You may not know who the person is and because of the protocol issues of confidentiality, we are not disclosing those who are now COVID-19 victims. But we have some of us in that category.

“We arranged with the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research to use three days and the three days are over but I am reliably informed that a number of our members have not yet taken the opportunity to either do the screening or to even undergo the Covid-19 test.

“Honorable members, I humbly urge that you all take this opportunity seriously and go test by the end of today,” Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin stated before the House on Tuesday, January 26, 2021.

He revealed this following a three-day health screening exercise organised for the MPs last week.

The Speaker has warned the MPs to stay away from the August House so they don't infect people with the disease.

" . . some Members of Parliament who have in fact tested positive to the COVID are still coming to the chamber. Mr. Speaker wishes to inform that if those Members do not withdraw and isolate, he will be forced to publish the names of Members who have tested positive in order to warn the rest of us. Please, let's take this protocol seriously . . ."  the 2nd Speaker informed the MPs on behalf of Hon. Bagbin.

But according to Hon. Mireku Duker, no MP who's tested positive has ignored his or her test results and still attending proceedings in the Legislative House.

He explained that the MPs were seen in Parliament because they had not received their test results yet.

He said those who subjected themselves to test didn't receive their results on the same day, therefore there was no way they could have known whether they're negative or positive.

"An MP with wife or husband and children is told has tested positive, do you think such a person will by force say I want to come to Parliament. What is the person coming to do in Parliament?

''Who told them not to come to Parliament and they refused but chose to come anyway? The people didn't know at the time . . .'', he said during Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'' .

''One thing I want us to know is that when someone tests even negative today, it doesn't mean you cannot even test positive the next day . . . I have a challenge with leadership, the way they're reporting the matter. As if we have irresponsible men in Parliament who have been told they're positive and they're struggling to come back irrespective of testing positive. I mean establish the facts that, yes, they didn't know and after they were told, they left Parliament," he expounded.