The Member of Parliament for the Ningo Prampram constituency, Sam Nartey George has assured Ghanaians that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will not take advantage of the election of its member, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin as Speaker of Parliament to frustrate President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his second term of office.
The NDC in the December 2020 elections matched the governing New Patriotic Party by also winning 137 seats in Parliament.
Ghana currently has a hung Parliament and has the Speaker of Parliament emerging from an opposition party.
There have been concerns about how President Akufo-Addo’s working relation with Parliament will be, especially with the historic turn of events.
But Mr. Nartey George in an interview on Eyewitness News said “if we wanted to hold the President to ransom, the Speaker would not have been allowed to appear for the President’s swearing-in ceremony. We would have just asked the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu to replace him. We are not that kind of party.”
“We have proven to be consensus builders, after ceding the first Deputy Speaker position to the NPP, what did we do? We nominated the independent candidate as the Second Deputy. We have shown our interest in safeguarding the democracy of the country,” the Ningo Prampram legislator noted.
“We heard the Speaker himself say that he is going to discharge his duties without fear or favour. He never showed bias while he was Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Ghanaians can be rest assured that under no circumstances will we bring in partisan bias into the working of the House.”
Mr. Bagbin, who was presented by the NDC as its candidate for Speaker won the keenly contested election with 138 votes in the 275-member legislative house.
His only contender, the Speaker of the 7th Parliament, who was proposed by the NPP, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye polled 136 votes. There was also one spoilt ballot.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has assured the Speaker of his willingness to work with him to continue to promote peace in the country.
“This is the first time that the President from one republic will be obliged by the exigencies of the moment and the will of the people to work in all sincerity and cooperation with the Speaker of Parliament from another party. I am confident that both of us will be guided in our relationship by the supreme interest of our people in ensuring good governance in the ordering of affairs of the state. I want to ensure you of my wholehearted determination to work with you to advance the peace, progress, and prosperity of the Ghanaian people.”
