ACEPA Commends Speaker Bagbin for Impartial handling of Parliament
The Executive Director of Africa Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Dr. Rasheed Draman has commended the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin for his impartial and dispassionate manner of handling the 8th Parliament as a speaker.
According to him, so far the Speaker has exhibited a high sense of nationalism beyond his political interest as the arbiter of the Legislative House during proceedings.
Dr. Dramani commented in his preliminary assessment of the two years of the 8th Parliament of Ghana, which has been described as “a Hung Parliament.”
Article 101 of the 1992 Constitution states that, “the Speaker shall preside in Parliament at all sittings and in his absence, a Deputy Speaker shall preside,” while Article 104 (2) states that, “the Speaker shall have neither original nor a casting vote”.
The most critical functions of Parliament are: to pass laws for the good governance of Ghana and to provide by giving legislative sanctions, taxation, and acquisition of loans, the means of carrying out the work of Government.
In addition to that parliament also scrutinize Government policy and administration through the pre-legislative scrutiny of bills referred to the Parliamentary committees, scrutiny of the various objects of expenditure and the sums to be spent on each, assuring transparency and accountability in the application of public funds.
Nevertheless, Dr. Draman told EXPRESSNEWSGHANA in an interview in Accra, that the Speaker has so far discharged his constitutional duties creditably without blemishes politically, even though he belongs to a political party other than the governing party.
He said even though Rt Hon Bagbin’s election as Speaker was characterized by challenges, where the Military had to intervene, he had made good use of his vast experience of parliamentary democracy to overcome a completely politically divided parliament.
Excerpts of Dr. Rasheed Draman’s interview with EXPRESS NEWS TV
Until he became Speaker, Rt Hon Bagbin was the longest-serving member of parliament, having served since 1993 when the first parliament under the 4th Republic was inaugurated.
He has held several positions in Parliament since 1994 and capped his law-making career with the ultimate, the Majority Leader and Leader of the House.
In the first Parliament of the Fourth Republic, he was made the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Subsidiary Legislation, Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Mines and Energy, and a Member of the Committee on Local Government and Rural Development.
In the Second Parliament of the Fourth Republic, Mr. Bagbin was the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs with oversight responsibilities for the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Electoral Commission, National Commission on Civic Education, Office of Parliament and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
He was also the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 2001 to 2005 as well as Vice-Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
Rt Hon Bagbin was on his way out from Parliamentary politics as he did not run for Parliament in the 2020 elections.
He was elected in the early morning of January 7, 2021, as Speaker of the 8th Parliament of Ghana.
Source: expressnewsghana.com
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