Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin
A private legal practitioner and member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has expressed optimism that the newly elected Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, will put the interest of the country ahead of any consideration, and focus on development rather than partisanship.
The NPP leading member is of conviction that Mr Bagbin is the best person from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to hold such a position under President Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidency.
According to him, Mr Bagbin, throughout his life, has proven to have the experience, and the country at heart, and will not do anything untoward to deliberately frustrate the Akufo-Addo administration.
“Under the circumstances, Alban Bagbin is the best person from the NDC to be Speaker under an Akufo-Addo presidency. Yes, he is true green NDC – through and through. But, if the nation must have a Speaker from the opposition, who can be expected not to unduly frustrate the work of Government, then Bagbin is he.
“He has maturity. He has experience. He does not dislike Akufo-Addo. In fact, the two have always enjoyed mutual respect for each other. He had just retired from ‘active’ politics even though he owes his nomination to his party,” Mr Otchere-Darko said in a media interview.
“I do not expect Mr Speaker to go against the national interest in order to satisfy, say, a JM agenda. And, he can be his own man. I am inclined to believe him when he says he will serve the nation with honesty.
“Serving the nation also means helping the party elected to implement the manifesto platform upon which it campaigned and got given the mandate of the people. The NPP remains the Majority in Parliament to drive the agenda of the Executive and requires the full, professional cooperation of the Speaker,” he added.
Historic election
The former MP for Nadowli Kaleo is the first Speaker in the 4th Republic to be elected from an opposition party.
Following his election Mr Bagbin, promised to discharge his duty with dignity and to the best of his abilities.
“I will submit myself to the will of this House, and pledge to serve my dear country to the best of my ability. I would have the singular honour and duty to proceed to perform all other duties. I would conscientiously discharge my duties as Speaker of this Parliament,” he assured.
He further promised “wholeheartedly to put at the disposal of Parliament and the country the store of knowledge, immense experience and the huge data bank I have accumulated and accommodated over 28-years of being a member of this House.”
Not a tool for frustration
Meanwhile, the MP for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George, has said the NDC will not take advantage of the election of Mr Bagbin as Speaker to frustrate President Akufo-Addo’s administration.
He explained that if that was their intention, they wouldn’t have allowed him to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Akufo-Addo, a programme which was boycotted by the opposition party.
“If we wanted to hold the President to ransom, the Speaker would not have been allowed to appear for the President’s swearing-in ceremony. We would have just asked the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu, to replace him. We are not that kind of party.
“We have proven to be consensus builders. After seceding the first Deputy Speaker position to the NPP, what did we do? We nominated the independent candidate as the Second Deputy. We have shown our interest in safeguarding the democracy of the country,” the Ningo Prampram legislator noted.
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