Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu says the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin appears to be demonstrating machoism in the handling of the 8th Parliament.
This according to him is because the Speaker’s public utterances on certain issues that needed to be discussed behind closed doors were completely avoidable.
This action, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu insists if not checked may have the potential of undermining how parliamentary businesses are conducted.
Speaking to host, Emefa Apawu on The Probe Sunday, the Suame MP said he will disagree with the Speaker’s decisions if the need arises but will not undermine his authority.
“I defer to him but I can disagree with him. I can’t challenge the Speaker. If I challenge the Speaker and I do so by a motion and debate on the floor and my side wins; what happens to the Speaker? You inflict a mortal wound on the Speaker. You bring him down and it will affect the standing of Parliament. This is why I resisted the temptation to challenge him” he said.
His comment follows the debate on the 2021 budget in Parliament, where Alban Bagbin had threatened to block the passage of the Appropriation Bill if the Executive did not rescind its decision to cap funds to be allocated to the other two arms of government.
But the Parliamentary Affairs Minister disagreed with his long-time friend and said that the matter should have been in camera rather than on the floor of Parliament.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu indicated that “there hasn’t been one President who has afforded us (Parliament) all we requested. Never!, since Rawlings’ time. So why should President Akufo-Addo be an exception. I was in communication with the President and he (Speaker) knew that. In any event, even securing what we were able to to secure; it was me. So why should you go and do that? It makes it appear as if you want to demonstrate machoism which I think is unnecessary.”
The Majority Leader, however, said that despite their differences on issues, he is still intimate with the former MP for Nadowli Kaleo Constituency and hopes to work together in deepening Ghana’s democracy in the remaining life of the 8th Parliament.
