Alban Bagbin

“It is not right” that James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament-elect for Assin North constituency, is going through a daily criminal trial when others are not going through the same process, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin, has said.

“I tell them, and I tell the judges, it is not right. If it is done to everybody, I have no problem but if it is done selectively, I have a problem.

“What we are doing is rule by law, not rule of law, and I think that we should move away from that. For democracy to succeed, the pillar is rule of law.

“The law is not centre of democracy, that is one of the errors in our [1992] constitution, read through our constitution and you’ll see the law is a respecter of so many people. So many people in Ghana are above the law. You can’t have democracy and so we need to work at it seriously and this [is why] the constitutional review is something we must take up.”  

The Speaker of Parliament was speaking during a visit to the office of Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to meet with management and the editorial staff.

The Speaker’s working visit to Graphic was to interact with management and staff at the editorial department.

This is aligned with the Speaker’s desire to strengthen Parliament-Media Relations.

It is the first official visit of the Speaker to a media organisation since he was elected Speaker of Parliament.

He was accompanied by some staff from his office.

James Gyakye Quayson will be sworn in as the Member of Parliament for Assin North today.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin made this known this morning [June 29].

Parliament is resuming sitting today [June 29], following the abrupt end of proceedings last Tuesday.

This was due to the lack of quorum required for a parliamentary business to go on, as many Members of Parliament (MPs) on both the Majority and Minority sides travelled to the Assin North Constituency in the Central Region to join the political campaign and monitoring of the by-election.

Gyakye Quayson will be in court this morning for his criminal trial after which he will go to Parliament for the swearing in.