“The Speaker has taken Parliament as his personal property” – Afenyo-Markin fumes

Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has come under fire from Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin for his refusal to call a new session of the House.

The Speaker is unilaterally choosing when to reopen Parliament for government work, using it as his personal property, claims Afenyo-Markin.

“Look at the shutdown they are doing in Parliament. Today, the Speaker has taken Parliament as his personal property. As and when it pleases him, he opens Parliament. Even when there is an issue that he could sit with us on, he says no,” in an interview with Joynews monitored by Ghanatodayonline.com, Afenyo-Markin stated.

Before the end of November, the Majority Leader had sent a memo asking the Speaker to arrange a meeting of Parliament to discuss pressing government issues.

Alban Bagbin, however, turned down the request in a statement dated Tuesday, November 26, stating that the House would only meet again to discuss government issues following the general elections on December 7.

Concerned about the ramifications of the Speaker’s decision, Afenyo-Markin contended that it impedes important legislative procedures and jeopardizes the efficient administration of government.

He said the Speaker’s rejection was inappropriate and blamed Bagbin for not wanting to call the House back together.

“Look at the recent case, they themselves created this impasse. We (NPP), as law-abiding citizens, took the matter to court. The court ruled in our favour.

“They contested the case and lost. I was expecting Mr Speaker to immediately open Parliament as a Democrat, to say that government business must go on. I waited upon him, he did not. When I finally wrote to him to open Parliament for us to do government business, look at his response. He’s not ready,” he said.

He also said that the Speaker should not recall Parliament because the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) caucus and its leader, John Mahama, were holding the state hostage.

“Look at the response of the NDC. They wrote a counter-petition saying that Mr Speaker should not open Parliament. The flagbearer of the NDC also said the same thing. So what are they doing is to hold government hostage,” he asserted.

Afenyo-Markin expressed concern about the impact of the Speaker’s decision on government operations and accused Bagbin of mischievous behavior.

“Are we even sure that he would open Parliament? That’s the question. Are we even sure? But the answer lies in we [NPP] winning massively. And once we win massively and we come, he would have no choice.

“I do not want to rely on his words. You remember we recall Parliament, the government did all that they had to do, we came in and he adjourned Parliament sine die. So I don’t want to talk about whether he would come and reopen Parliament or not. I leave it to his own judgment,” Afenyo-Markin stated.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com