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The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has stated that he did not anticipate that he will be nominated and eventually elected as the head of the legislative arm of government now.

Speaking at a forum to address former Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday, December 23, 2021, Alban Bagbin said he had hoped that his experience in the House would be brought to bear at a much later time.

Commenting on the outcome of the 2020 elections and his election as speaker, the former Nadoli Kaleo MP indicated that he was called upon by the NDC at the eleventh hour to contest for the speakership position.

“The divine intervention continued and miraculously, I was elected as the Speaker of the house. I had no intention of becoming Speaker now …at least I will think about the future...maybe one president will come and say that ‘you serve for some time’, come and serve as Speaker."

"But [I did] not [expect it to be] immediate…you know…but I was just called within 2 days to the 7th [of January, 2021], I’m told that we want you to contest and that was God speaking through my party [National Democratic Congress] and I decided to contest and because of my relationship with all of you …both sides of the House, I lost some from my side, I gained some from the other side and I won. In spite of others trying to descend into the animal world by chewing ballots…we still won,” he said.

Alban Bagbin in a chaotic election for the Speakership position on January 7, 2021, beat off competition from Professor Mike Ocquaye and emerged victorious.

He is the first Speaker to emerge from an opposition party whiles the government is on the other side of the aisle.