Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin says he does not belong to any political party now that he occupies the position of the third-most powerful person in Ghana.
The longest-serving legislator in Ghana’s political history on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), ascended the position a little over two months ago after a rancorous poll in the legislature.
He won the speakership position in the 275-member Parliament after the main opposition NDC lost the December 7, 2020 presidential election and having split the parliamentary seats 137-137 with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) plus one Independent member.
The former Nadowli-Kaleo MP, who had been a lawmaker for 28 years, recently came under uncivilized attack, along with Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu and Minority Whip Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, from NDC’s National Communications Officer, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, after the house passed some ministerial nominees of President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Sammy Gyamfi was angry because the NDC MPs help to pass the nominees despite express directives from the Functional Executive Committee of the party, that those ministers-designate should be rejected for various reasons.
In a social Facebook post on Thursday March 4, 2021, NDC communications officer said the party no longer regarded Mr Bagbin as an NDC Speaker, even though he attained the position on the party’s ticket.
He accused Mr Bagbin and the leadership of the Minority Caucus, of betraying the party by approving the nominees.
“Some have sold their conscience but ours is intact. And we can work together to rebuild the party from the ashes of 3 March 2021, which I call ‘Black Wednesday’ – our day of self-inflicted shame”, Sammy Gyamfi stated.
He added that “This is the time for us to insist on the right changes in the leadership of the NDC group in Parliament or forget about them completely.
“The current leadership have lost their moral authority to lead and are not fit to sit on the front bench of the NDC side of the house”.
Sammy Gyamfi noted that “More importantly, it’s about time we understood that we don’t have any NDC Speaker of Parliament. No, we don’t!”.
Attacking Mr Bagbin and warning party supporters, the NDC national communications officer said, “We have a Speaker who rode on the back of the NDC into office to pursue his own parochial agenda and nothing more”.
However, making a brief comment about the attack on him during a courtesy call by Class Media Group (CMG), Mr Bagbin called for the strengthening of the capacity of the media.
“Recently in the media, on social media, in particular, you have heard the blistering attack on me when I did not play any role apart from presiding [over the business of the house].
“Because I say I belong or came from a party, does he [Sammy Gyamfi] think I’m at the beck and call of the party?
“Now, I don’t belong to any party. I’m Speaker of Ghana. I’m not a Speaker of NPP. I’m not a Speaker of NDC. I’m Speaker of Ghana. And I must hold the balance. So, decision-taking; no. My duty is to ensure that there’s an even playing field and the decision is taken and I announce it. That is all. And, so, if you sit down and look at me and think that maybe you were my girlfriend before [and, therefore] I should give you an advantage over another who I’ve never met, please, then don’t come to me; you won’t get it. Let’s finish; after work, we can do that business together. Not when I’m working. That’s my nature; that’s how I’ve been up to this time and, so, it’s unfortunate that these things are happening”, Mr Bagbin explained his new role.
