Where is Alban Bagbin? the response and issues arising – Agyemang Richard writes

I have read, with sadness, a release by the Director of Media Relations of the Parliament of Ghana on behalf of the Parliamentary Service.

Social Media requests to know the whereabouts of the Speaker of Parliament, in line with the request to the Speaker by the Majority Leader Hon. Afenyo Markin for Parliament to be summoned to deal with unfinished business the day after Mr. Speaker, in anger, adjourned Parliament sine-die.

The Director, without any consultation with the Leader of the House, Hon Afenyo Markin, elected to issue that statement on behalf of the Parliamentary Service.

Many baffling questions beg for answers, at least to relieve me of anxiety:

First and foremost, Is the Director of Media Relations a mouthpiece for Mr. Speaker or for Parliament? The Parliamentary Service is not Parliament. The Speaker’s conduct is in respect of the business in and of the House.

The Director referred to Order 57. The said Order obligates The Speaker to consult the House, through the Leaders, especially, the Leader of Government Business, before adjourning the House to a particular day, or sine-die. Is the Director aware that the Speaker did not consult the leaders or the House before unilaterally adjourning the House sine-die?

Instructively, the Director stated in the 4th paragraph of the release that Parliament is a rule (sic)- based institution. And I ask ‘Did the Speaker resort to the rules, when he chose not to consult anybody before ending the meeting of parliament so abruptly?’

The Director, in the 6th paragraph states that per Order 12(4) of Parliament’s Standing Orders, “the presence of The Speaker and/or his Deputies are not required for Parliament to sit”.

Here too, I respectfully state the issue is not about the Sitting of Parliament, it is about the summoning or recall of Parliament where a request is made at a period when Parliament has adjourned sine-die. In that regard, it is ONLY the Rt. Hon. Speaker who is vested with the power to summon Parliament. And I insist the Director must understand this.

The Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament, Speaker Alban Bagbin has, deliberately, been insisting in the public space that Ghana’s Parliament today is a HUNG parliament.

The Director of Media Relations repeats the same in her anti-penultimate paragraph.

The position of the Speaker is erroneous, and for the Director to boldly declare same is most unfortunate, as it reduces her office to a mere trumpet of The Speaker’s regrettable stance.  Let me emphasize here too that the Majority Caucus has the slimmest number, that is, just a single number, one, that makes it a Majority Caucus.

I strongly submit that a majority is a majority even if it is by one, one-half or less. It is because of this fact that, I have learnt that, at the Pan-African Parliament where Ghana’s representation is five, the Majority Caucus has 3 members and the Minority 2. This practice prevails in any committee or delegation where the numbers are odd, the scale tilts in favour of the Majority Caucus.

‘A HUNG Parliament is one that is split right down the middle in equal parts’. For instance, if you had a 200-member Chamber and the outcome of elections produces NPP- 100 and NDC- 100, that would be a HUNG parliament. Or where the results produce NPP- 100; NDC- 95; with other smaller parties registering 5 MPs, if the 5 MPs, for the purpose of transacting business in the House, joined the ranks of the NDC the numbers would be NPP-100; NDC and Others 100. In that case it would be a Hung Parliament. With neither side having a majority.

In such instances, the Leaders of the House becomes rotational and are accordingly referred to as Co-Leaders.

The Parliament of Ghana today is not split down the centre in equal numbers. In the event, the legislature of Ghana is not a HUNG Parliament. That is why the two Leaders are NOT CO-LEADERS. There is a Majority Leader in the person of Hon. Afenyo Markin, and there is a Minority Leader in the person of Hon. Dr. Ato Forson. Therefore, people should not continue to inflict their own ignorance on Ghanaians.

This distinction must be made clear to the Director of Media Relations within the Public Affairs Unit and whoever she might be speaking for.

I pray you do things better as we seek to build mother Ghana.

Shalom!

Agyemang Richard