I’m Speaker because I have very ‘good friends’ in NPP – Bagbin

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has said he won the slot to become Speaker because he has ‘very good friends” in the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) despite being in the opposition party.

Mr Bagbin disclosed this at a meeting with members of the Council of State on Tuesday.

“I’ve gone through it from 1993 up to date. I’ve seen some of the challenges. I identified some but when I really took over, then the weight came on me.

‘I see myself, even though I’m a member of the NDC, throughout my practice, I haven’t been a fanatic of party politics and I’ve always breached across the political divide and I’ve very good friends on the other side of the political divide and that is how come I won.

“I couldn’t have won without the support of members from the other side and, so, you’d hear me saying that at the end of the day, I don’t expect either party to praise me,” he said.

The former Nadowli Kaleo MP in the meeting emphasised it is important that parliament is seen as the essence of Ghana’s democracy.

“Democracy is about parliament; it’s not about the executive, it’s not about the judiciary.

“Why do I say so? The practice of what we call ‘culture of democracy should be seen and felt on the floor of parliament and that is why, sometimes, we say it’s the bastion of democracy,” he said.

Mr Bagbin in the meeting also added his voice to the recent coup mongering comments in the country, stating if there’s a coup, it’s parliament that suffers.

“The judiciary will always be there, there will always be an executive arm and because of the absence of parliament, too many Ghanaians don’t understand what parliament is and what the work of an MP is,” he admonished.

On the back of commitment in discharging his duties, Mr Bagbin reiterated his stance to be impartial but not neutral, a trait he indicated he learned from a former Speaker of Parliament.

‘You also heard me say that in the performance of my functions, I will be impartial but that doesn’t mean I will be neutral and this is what I learned from my father, the late Rt Hon Peter Ala Adjetey.

“It’s a ruling which is in the Hansard. So, [with] any matter that comes before the house, I cannot be neutral because I have an interest in it but in performing my duty as Speaker, I have to be impartial. Those are the differences. People don’t understand,” Mr Bagbin explained.

He further vowed he cannot sit as a Speaker and see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.

To him, he will by that act be abdicating his role as a statesman and as one of the leaders of the country.

“So, I have an interest in whatever comes to the floor and whether it is against the left or against the right, I will say it. That is what I’m committed to. That’s why I said that at the end of the day, I don’t expect either party to praise me because I may hurt both,” he noted.