Let’s be serious: Speaker bans use of ‘tweea’ in Parliament

The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, has banned the use of the Akan word ‘tweaa’ in Parliament.

He said the use of the Akan word tweaa was un-parliamentary and should not be part of the “Parliamentary lexicon.”

Mr Adjaho banned the word after the member for Subin, Mr Isaac Osei (NPP), had drawn his attention to the fact that the word had gained currency in the House lately and sought to find out if that word could be used.

Tweaa is an Akan interjection used mainly to express contempt for a statement made.

Its use has gained currency since the District Chief Executive for Ahafo Ano South,  Mr Gabriel Barima, flared up when a member of an audience he was addressing at Mankraso in the Ashanti Region used it to express contempt for a statement he had made.

The enraged DCE stormed out of the meeting after stating, among other things, that the person who made the statement was not his “co-equal.”

For the past three weeks, some Members of Parliament have used the word against their colleagues making statements or contributions to statements on the floor of the House.

The use of the word usually leads to laughter and takes the focus off the issues being discussed for some minutes.