Speaker could have sent leadership or deputy speakers, MP
What is the rule of Attor in parliament? – Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu
Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has bemoaned the decision of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to send his special assistant, Kofi Attor, to meet a delegation on his behalf.
According to the majority leader, the speaker should have let any of the deputy speakers of parliament or the leadership of the majority or minority represent him.
“I earlier said that I had received a letter and the letter I received said myself, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, the chairman of the Health Committee and the ranking member of the Health Committee should go and join Kofi Attor to meet the Doctors without Borders to receive their message.
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“The truth is that when I got the letter, I asked some questions including the role of Kofi Attor in parliament. What I know is that when the Speaker is travelling or will not be available for such a powerful delegation, he will let one of the deputy speakers represent him. If the deputy speakers are not available, he will ask me to represent him and if I am not available, he will ask the minority leadership to represent him,” he said in Twi in a Neat FM interview monitored by GhanaWeb.
The Majority Leader noted that the Speaker of Parliament did not follow protocol if he indeed is the one who “instructed that we join Kofi Attor to meet the delegation” adding that “he could have even said that Kofi Attor should come and join us to meet the delegation.”
Also, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who is also the member of parliament for Suame, said that statements made by the speaker recently, including comments on President Nana Akufo-Addo’s remarks on the Supreme Court’s judgment that deputy speakers can vote, are not the best because the statements are offensive.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Service has clarified that Alban Bagbin, has not appointed former MP for Ho, Kofi Attor to serve as the acting Speaker.
“In the instance under reference, Hon. Kofi Attor was assigned to receive a message, intended for the Speaker, from a delegation of Medicine Sans Frontières, an international medical humanitarian organization.
“That assignment cannot make him the acting Speaker of Parliament. It must be pointed out that the delegation was in Parliament primarily to meet with the leadership and the Health Committee of Parliament, which they did," the statement by the service said.
