Leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Caucus in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has disclosed that Alban Bagbin was selected as Speaker of Parliament based on a consensus by some leaders in Parliament.
He said the idea of consensus-building emerged after the processes for the election of a Speaker was compromised by chaos and the snatching of ballot boxes.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu indicated that he had suggested during the consensus meeting that Mr. Bagbin should be sworn in by the Chief Justice, after which a settlement will be made for a re-run of the election, but that idea was rejected by some members of the NDC caucus.
He said members later arrived at a conclusion to select Bagbin after hours of engagement.
“As part of building a consensus, when we met, my first proposal to my colleagues was that this election has been truncated just as the first three attempts had been truncated, and we had to begin a new voting process.”
“So that was the initial proposal. My colleagues went into the conclave and came to say that they objected to that proposal that we should do a re-run. So we were thinking through, and it was still in the process of further engagement that we came to the conclusion that where we are, let us adopt Bagbin as a consensus candidate.”
Bagbin’s selection, according to Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, explains why the Clerk in Parliament failed to “relate to any numbers” while asking him “to take the Chair.”
Mr. Bagbin who was presented by the NDC as its candidate for the speakership position competed with the Speaker of the 7th Parliament, who was proposed by the NPP, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye.
The election process on January 7, 2021, was stopped several times as the NDC caucus insisted that the poll has to be through secret voting as the law directs.
