A Senegalese Member of Parliament, who slapped a female colleague in the face during a live session, has been condemned as a ‘coward’.
A brawl erupted in Senegal’s parliament on Thursday, after opposition MP Massata Samb slapped Amy Ndiaye Gniby of the ruling coalition BBY, during a budget presentation, a video footage shows.
The session was suspended amid the heated atmosphere.
The conflict has been linked to a growing animosity between the opposition and the ruling coalition ahead of the presidential election due in 2024.
"It’s a shame that the MP beat his female colleague,” Nar Lo Dia, a Senegalese student living in Rwanda told The New Times.
"Senegal is a country that is really empowering women, not just in the work environment but also in our culture. Boys are raised to respect girls and women. And that guy did not respect anything about that.”
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For Marie Immaculee Ingabire, a gender activist and chairperson of Transparency International Rwanda, the Member of Parliament should face legal and disciplinary action.
"It’s disrespectful for a Member Of Parliament to beat a colleague, let alone a woman,” Ingabire said. "It’s cowardice. I find it deplorable when a male lawmaker slaps a colleague who’s a woman. He should be dismissed from the parliament and should not hold any public office.”
Ingabire said disagreements in parliament should not be escalated into physical fights.
"Even after dismissal, the lawmaker must be prosecuted because there is no way he should get away with it,” she said, adding that the Senegalese laws should be respected.