News:
Rt. Hon Speaker
May 24, 2022
Speaker of Ghana’s Legislature Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has said he does not believe in Majoritarian system of governance, where the Minority has its say and the Majority has its way.
According to him Ghana has gone beyond that, and is now deliberating on inclusive participatory and accountable governance, because the Majority depends on their strength in numbers and pushes anything they want to push through which is currently not the case in the present parliament.
According to him, the focus should always be on the national interest; and called for efforts to get more women into the legislature.
The Speaker made these remarks on Tuesday, May, 24, 2022 when the Speaker of the Zambian National Assembly Rt. Hon Ms Nelly Mutti paid a courtesy call on him.
The Zambia delegation is on an eight benchmarking tour in Ghana with its Standing Orders Committee made-up of the Rt. Hon Speaker Ms. Nelly Mutti, MP; Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane MP; Finance Minister, Mr Stafford Mulusa MP; Majority Chief Whip, Mr. Brain Mundubile, MP; Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Stephen Kampyongo, MP; Mr. Machila Jamba, MP; Mr. Nickson Chilangwa, MP; Mrs. Jacqueline Sabao, MP; and other staffs of the Parliament.
In his remarks he noted that the Ghanaian Standing Orders make room for Majority and Minority despite the fact that the current 8th parliament is a hang parliament of 137 – 137 with the independent doing business with the Majority.
“The Standing Order says the chairman of the Business Committee is the Majority Leader, but there could be a Majority Leader who might not be in government, that is our system, that is how come our party is in opposition but I am the Speaker”, he stated.
Again, “I have a lot of knocks from both sides of the House but I try to balance the equation. If I rule against my people, they came knocking at me that I am not showing I am part of them; if I rule against the other side they say I am partisan; one and half years I have been trying to manage, it has not been easy”, he emphasized.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com