Don't counter me again - Bagbin warns Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

The Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has warned Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu not to counter remarks he makes in the Chair as Speaker in his media interviews again.

According to him, he has had enough of the attempts by the Suame MP  to undermine his position as Speaker.

It comes after the Majority Leader is reported to have described as false claims by the Speaker that the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has starved the House of funds for their operations this year in a radio interview.

Some members of the Majority leadership including Majority Chief Whip Frank Annor-Dompreh have also described the Speaker as impatient for his outburst over the delayed release of funds to the House.

Addressing the chamber Friday, the Speaker said the Majority leader must appreciate that he is the Speaker of the House until members decide to change him or his tenure ends.

“In Ghana parliament is not supreme it is subject to the constitution and so it is important that when the Speaker speaks from the chair, the leader of the House is not seen to be the one countering what the spokesperson of the arm of government says and if they want us to give documentary evidence of the non funding of the house for this year we will provide that.

“So when I heard that a leader of the house has gone on air to say that what I said is not true it saddens me. In response to what i said yesterday the government proceeded to release money yesterday and there is evidence to that,” the Speaker fumed.

He stressed: ” I will not take the majority leader who is going on air to counter what I said particularly when I said it in this chair. I will not take that I am in control here and I will continue to be in control until my term of office ends or you decide otherwise as members to remove me as Speaker of the house by the votes of three quarters of members of Parliament. Please This is the last time I will refer to it and this is enough notice to whoever thinks he has same authority as the Speaker. Enough is enough”.

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