Tensions in the legislative arm of Ghana’s government have been quite high lately and the last thing anybody, especially the Members of Parliament, would want is to get on the wrong side of the man who leads them.
Already, there have been counter-decisions, accusations and even claims of bias leveled at the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, mainly because he is the country’s first to lead the legislature from another party.
First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, has been mandated to sit in for Bagbin anytime he is away from the House.
While doing this however, he appears to have stepped on some nerves over time and on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, when Alban Bagbin was expected to give a verdict on an overturned decision of his, he shattered expectations when he declared a ceasefire.
“The penchant of the first Deputy Speaker to overrule my rulings is, to say the least unconstitutional, illegal and offensive,” the Speaker said.
But that was just a tip of the iceberg.
Before the Speaker of Parliament walked onto the floor of the House on the day, something that had become a recent trend and for which Alban Bagbin had not been happy about, led him to bring the House to order.
The Speaker of Parliament was unhappy about what he described as an un-parliamentary style for the processes in the House.
It would be recalled that barely a week ago, he publicly cautioned MPs against hailing him as he enters the House, advising that they observe the entry as a solemn event, but this caution was not heeded to.
When it happened again, the Speaker addressed the issue head-on.
“What is happening in this parliament is completely unacceptable and I’m not sure you have appreciation of the temperature of the country, neither am I sure you know the arduous nature of the responsibility that has been placed on your shoulders.
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“You are all matured adults, what I am talking about (chatter when he is entering the chamber) is still happening,” he lamented.
He went on to issue a threat of arrest and removal of MPs who are found complicit in the act.
“The Marshall department get ready. I will be compelled to get the Marshall to get people arrested and sent out.”
“You are saying eiii,” he rhetorically asked some MPs who reacted to his threat before adding, “Parliament is not a place for joking. It is a place for business, serious national business," he continued.
He pointed out that with the uniqueness of the current Parliament in Ghana’s legislative history, there was the need for MPs to “be prepared to change, to accept the decision of the people and work together. "You make me sick," he added.
When it seemed he was done and was just returning to other weightier matters of the day, some other MPs spoke out from the floor, prompting another harsh response from him.
“Will you shut up? Do you rule out of order in the House?” he quizzed.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin returned from his third medical checkup trip from the United Arab Emirates on January 23rd after previous ones on November 27, 2021 and January 7, 2022.
During his absence, First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu has had to sit in his stead and chair proceedings in parliament.
View his Timepath below:
