Former Member of Parliament(MP) for Okaikwei North, Issah Fuseini, has leveled serious accusations against the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin.
According to him, the Speaker is fully to blame for the hullabaloo that has characterized the August House of Parliament.
Since the inception of the 8th Parliament under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, there have been series of boxing in the chamber among the members of the House.
A recent brawl occurred last year where the members on both sides - the majority and minority - clashed over the Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu handing over to the Second Deputy Speaker in order to join a quorum to approve the 2022 budget.
Supreme Court Verdict
In order to end the Deputy Speaker issue in the House, the case was sent to the Supreme Court and a seven-member panel unanimously ruled that a "Deputy Speaker is entitled to be counted as a Member of Parliament for quorum" and can "vote and take part in the decision of Parliament".
President Responds To Ruling
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, declaring his position, agreed to the Supreme court ruling stressing "the legislative power of Parliament [that is vested] that is of the State which is vested in Parliament is subject to the provisions of the constitution. All organs of the Ghanaian State including me as the Head of Executive, we are all subject to the teachings of the constitution. There is nobody in the Ghanaian State that is above the fundamental law of the land".
He added that ''if they are denied the right to vote, [it will mean] it is tantamount to denying the right of the people you represent to have a say in the decision of the Assembly. That will not be right. So, I couldn't understand all this furore and controversy artificially generated".
The Speaker, in reply, says the President made a myopic statement.
In a statement issued by him, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin said, "I have resisted the temptation of making a comment on the judgment of the Supreme Court on the issue of the voting rights of Deputy Speakers when presiding. But the unfortunate and myopic comment of the President has compelled me to let it out. The SC decision, is to say the least, not only an absurdity but a reckless incursion into the remit of Parliament''.
''The trend of unanimity is equally troubling. It doesn’t help explore and expand our legal jurisprudence. The President’s comment is myopic and unfortunate. It only goes to worsen the schism between the Executive and Parliament'', he accentuated.
Allegations Against Speaker
Issah Fuseini, not enthused about the Speaker's utterances, in a panel discussion on Peace FM's morning programme ''Kokrokoo'', decided to uncover an unparliamentary deed by the Speaker.
He revealed that the Speaker has turned his office into the national headquarters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), a behavior he identified to tarnish the seat of the Speaker and the image of Parliament.
He wondered why the Speaker is not taking cues from his predeccessors who left a good legacy as, to him, it will do Mr. Alban Bagbin good to also leave behind a good legacy.
Issah Fuseini noted that Mr. Bagbin is setting a bad precedent but hoped he would listen to advice and changed his ways.
"I've heard that when you go the Speaker's office, it's an extension of the NDC national office . . . because I know former NDC Members of Parliament who today work in the Speaker's office. Hitherto, it was never the case. It's unprecedented!'', he bellowed.
". . the institution of Parliament is sacrosanct. If he cannot improve it, he should leave it as he came to meet it," he slammed the Speaker.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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Well said, but 'na who cause am'? When you find yourself in a party whose leadership think they know all , these are the results you will get. How come that a party in opposition in 2016 with little or no resources managed to win 169 seats out of 275 thus forming a clear majority in parliament. Now having been in power for 4 years with policies such as free Senior high school, planting for food and jobs, free water under Covid 19, subsidized electricity, incumbency advantage, subsidized fertilizer among others, the party's parliamentary seats dropped from 169 to 137. The amazing thing is that we saw cabinet ministers, deputy ministers who were also MP's losing their seats. The reasons for this are not far fetched; arrogance, empty pride, disrespect, power drunk accounted for this. Prior to the election of the speaker, the NPP MP's advocated for a new speaker, Akuffo Addo insisted on the old man Mike Ocquaye. He forgot that even though he is the president, he has no casting vote in parliament. Again the president failed to realize that all the NPP MP's voted for him to be president, he didn't vote for all them to be MP's. His vote is in Abuakwa south and nowhere else. Former president kufour had an enviable skill of moving party and government together, akuffo Addo lacks that skill. Under Akuffo Addo the gap between the party and government keeps widening.kufuor and his appointees never forgot for once that it's the NPP party that made them , the current NPP leadership don't know this. Some appointees don't have any child of their own who is 18 years and thus qualified to vote, so who's child of 18 and above will break the 8 for you and you keep chanting break the 8. The current NPP is totally different from the kufour one. NPP in power, NDC dictating the pace, amazing
If this is true, then this is unacceptable. How can this Speaker turn such an institution into a party office? This should not be torelated at all as it crosses all lines. Recruitment process of the Speaker should be reviewed immediately and leadership of parliament be involved. Investigation needs to start immediately.