Bagbin – G-News

China congratulates speaker Bagbin on his Assumption of office

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Kofi Tutu

The Charge D Áffaires of the Chinese Embassy, Zhu Jing has delivered a congratulatory message from Chairman Of The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China H.E LI Zhanshu, and the Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of the People’s Republic of China H.E WANG Yang, to the Speaker of the 8th Parliament, the Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin on being elected as Speaker of the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic.

Mr. Jing was at the head of a three member delegation from the Chinese Embassy here in Accra. He described Speaker Bagbin as a long-time friend of China and expressed the hope that the Legislatures of Ghana and China will continue to collaborate closely for the mutual benefits of their two countries.

The MP for North Tongu and former Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa referred to the close relations between the Parliament of Ghana and China during the 7th Parliament where China sponsored a number of Training And Knowledge Exchange Programmes for the Members which helped in improving the skills of Members and expressed the hope that the Members of the 8th Parliament will have similar opportunities for interactions. He also commended China for being the first country to offer Personal Protection Equipment (PPEs) and financial assistance to Ghana at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Speaker Bagbin thanked China for the kind considerations and said China was always a close friend of Ghana and is currently one of Ghana’s best friends in the world, adding that Ghana intends to maintain that relationship. He also made reference to the COVID 19 and said it was a global pandemic which needs a global solution and called on world countries to treat it as such.

Speaker Bagbin said his aim is to strengthen the capacity of Members and Staff of Parliament, adding that he intends to superintend over a Parliament with a decentralised Speakership. He expressed the belief that for Parliament to develop and be at par with the Executive, it must have all its sections and systems working effectively and that is what he hopes to achieve.

Politics

Bagbin Didn’t Win The Elections – Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Kofi Tutu

Majority Leader of the 7th Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has brought to bear happenings that culminated in the former MP for Nadowli Kaleo, Alban Bagbin, becoming the Speaker of the 8th Parliament.

Reports are rife that the candidate of the National Democratic Congress caucus beat his contender, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye with 138 votes resulting in him getting sworn in as the Speaker of Parliament from 2021 – 2025.

But outlining the details on the night of the dissolution of the 7th Parliament in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb, the MP for Suame indicated that during the voting exercise to determine who was to be the leader of the House of Legislature, contrary to the reports, both candidates garnered 136 votes.

He further explained that two of the votes were unaccounted for, while one got rejected because both candidates had been tainted.

He noted that after the brouhaha surrounding the ballot sheets involving Member of Parliament for Tema West, Carlos Ahenkorah, he suggested to the leadership for a rerun of the polls to be carried out since it appeared two of the ballots could not be accounted for after they had been retrieved.

That suggestion was, however, shot down by the leadership on the other side of the divide since the House had spent over 8 hours and were short of time before the inauguration of the President-elect later in the day.

He indicated that after three failed attempts to decide on whether there should be a rerun or not the police were invited into the chamber to protect the ballots.

After several deliberations and taking into consideration the actions that marred the exercise, the leadership decided to compromise for the office of the Speaker of Parliament to be conferred on the candidate of the NDC, Alban Sumana Bagbin.

Listen to the full details from the night on the dissolution of the 7th Parliament by former Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu:

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu gives vivid account of incidents at dissolution of 7th parliament

Source: hotfmghana

Politics

NDC won’t use Bagbin to frustrate Akufo-Addo’s government – Sam George

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Kofi Tutu

The Member of Parliament for the Ningo Prampram constituency, Sam Nartey George has assured Ghanaians that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will not take advantage of the election of its member, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin as Speaker of Parliament to frustrate President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his second term of office.

Mr. Nartey George in an interview on Eyewitness News said “if we wanted to hold the President to ransom, the Speaker would not have been allowed to appear for the President’s swearing-in ceremony. We would have just asked the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu to replace him. We are not that kind of party.”

“We have proven to be consensus builders, after ceding the first Deputy Speaker position to the NPP, what did we do? We nominated the independent candidate as the Second Deputy. We have shown our interest in safeguarding the democracy of the country,” the Ningo Prampram legislator noted.

Politics

Bagbin is the best NDC person to be Speaker under an Akufo-Addo presidency – Gabby

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Kofi Tutu

A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko believes the newly-elected Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin is the best person from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to hold such a position under President Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidency.

He argued that Bagbin is experienced enough and will not unduly frustrate the work of the government.

Ghana currently has a hung Parliament and has the Speaker of Parliament emerging from the NDC.

Mr. Bagbin defeated the Speaker of the 7th Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye in an election held in Parliament on Thursday, January 7, 2021, to become the first gentleman in the 8th Parliament.

There have been concerns about how President Akufo-Addo’s working relationship with Parliament will be, especially with the historic turn of events.

But according to Otchere-Darko, President Akufo-Addo and Mr. Bagbin have always enjoyed mutual respect for each other.

“Under the circumstances, Alban Bagbin is the best person from the NDC to be Speaker under an Akufo-Addo presidency. Yes, he is true green NDC – through and through. But, if the nation must have a Speaker from the opposition who can be expected not to unduly frustrate the work of Government, then Bagbin is he.”

“He has maturity. He has experience. He does not dislike Akufo-Addo. In fact, the two have always enjoyed mutual respect for each other. He had just retired from “active” politics even though he owes his nomination to his party.”

Mr. Otchere-Darko insisted that Mr. Bagbin will not allow himself to do the bidding of his NDC party.

“I do not expect Mr. Speaker to go against the national interest in order to satisfy, say, a JM agenda. And, he can be his own man. I am inclined to believe him when he says he will serve the nation with honesty.”

“Serving the nation also means helping the party elected to implement the manifesto platform upon which it campaigned and got given the mandate of the people. The NPP remains the Majority in Parliament to drive the agenda of the Executive and requires the full, professional cooperation of the Speaker.”

NDC won’t use Bagbin to frustrate Akufo-Addo’s administration

The Member of Parliament for the Ningo Prampram constituency, Sam Nartey George had earlier assured Ghanaians that the NDC will not take advantage of the election of Mr. Bagbin as Speaker of Parliament to frustrate President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s administration.

He explained that if that’s their intention, they wouldn’t have allowed him to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Akufo-Addo the party boycotted.

“If we wanted to hold the President to ransom, the Speaker would not have been allowed to appear for the President’s swearing-in ceremony. We would have just asked the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu to replace him. We are not that kind of party.”

“We have proven to be consensus builders, after seceding the first Deputy Speaker position to the NPP, what did we do? We nominated the independent candidate as the Second Deputy. We have shown our interest in safeguarding the democracy of the country,” the Ningo Prampram legislator noted. We heard the Speaker himself say that he is going to discharge his duties without fear or favour. He never showed bias while Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Ghanaians can rest assured that under no circumstances will we bring in partisan bias into the working of the House,” Sam George Added.

Source: citinewsroom