News:
Rt. Hon. Speaker of the 8th Parliament
January 26, 2022
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has urged Members of Parliament (MPs) to wear more traditional dresses to Parliament instead of Suit and tie or other foreign attires.
According him the ceremonial dress for Speakers of Parliament were not meant for daily usage but for occasional purposes and that, the British who introduced such form of dresses has long abandoned theirs, so why is Ghana still using them, he therefore called on MPs to eat Ghana, wear Ghana, grow Ghana and more.
Mr. Bagbin made this call on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 in his welcome address to members of Parliament from their recess.
He further rendered an unqualified apology to Ghanaians for the various forms of chaos and riot which happened in Parliament last year and promised that, such incidents would never happen again in Parliament and that, he the Speaker and his two deputies would make sure that all members of Parliament would use a decent language on the floor of Parliament in order to maintain discipline in the House.
The media, Parliamentary watchers and the public were anxiously waiting for the re-introduction of the electronic transaction levy, on Tuesday when Parliament resumed sitting. It turned out however that, the Rt. Hon. Speaker’s outfit rather got everybody talking. Speaker Alban Bagbin ditched his usual ceremonial outfit for a more indigenous wear from the Volta Region.
It would be recalled that before the House was adjourned for the Christmas Holidays, the Speaker announced that he would only be using the Speaker’s cloak for ceremonial occasions this year as part of his commitment to change the dress code and code of conduct of MPs. True to his words, at the commencement of proceedings today, the Speaker entered the chamber, clad in kente cloth over a white lace shirt and a black and gold crown and gold necklace.
In his official welcome to the House, the Speaker urged the Members to take a cue from his outfit and dress in traditional wear just like the first President of the nation, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. “From now on I want to see our members appear in parliament decently adorned in traditional dress,” he said.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com