The Speaker of Parliament, the Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has admitted that Ghana’s 8th Parliament which was a hung one, was “very difficult”.
With his experience as the longest-serving Member of Parliament before assuming the role of Speaker for the 8th House, Mr. Bagbin noted that leading a hung legislature was not an easy task.
Ghana’s 8th Parliament was characterised by many unfortunate scenes which began at the inauguration of the House where the election of the Speaker led to fisticuffs between members from the two different caucuses.
The disturbance had to take the intervention of the military to calm matters down. A similar incident occurred during the passage of the infamous Electronic transaction levy bill in 2022.
There were many other incidents which made proceedings in the House a bit uneasy following the numbers that made the two caucuses.
Out of the 275 seats at the time, both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had 137 seats each, with an independent candidate who chose to do business with the NPP, giving them the majority status.
In his acceptance speech for his renomination as Speaker for the 9th Parliament, Mr. Bagbin noted that his experience as leader of the just-dissolved legislature is going to guide him, especially with the difficulties he encountered in the hung Parliament.
“I came to the Speaker of the 8th Parliament with my experience as the longest legislator of the House. I now come to the 9th Parliament with just not that background, but now with the experience of four years of Speakership of a very difficult hung Parliament,” he stated.
FULL TEXT: Bagbin’s acceptance speech as Speaker of Ghana’s 9th Parliament
