The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has revealed that he turned down President John Mahama’s appointment to serve as Chairman of the Board of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
In a viral video, Speaker Bagbin explained that the move undermines Parliament’s oversight responsibility over the Executive.
Speaker Bagbin revealed this while voicing concerns about Members of Parliament (MPs) being appointed to ministerial, executive, and board positions.
“I was offered to be Chair of the National Health Insurance Authority. As you all know, Speakers chair it. I rejected it because I think it’s not proper to go and chair the board, submit reports under the supervision of a minister. The Speaker is now under a minister, and the report will come to the House and the House will now be presided over by the minister – the Speaker.
“I said, no, I rejected it but that’s what used to happen. Some of you don’t know that it’s not proper. You cannot go and chair the boards, the corporations, work over there, submit reports through the minister, the minister submits the report to Parliament. Then you come and preside over those reports and approve or disapprove. Please, issues of conflict of interest and prejudice arise,” he explained.
As a former Nadowli-Kaleo MP and Majority Leader in 2009, Speaker Bagbin recalled that he was offered a position to be Minister of Parliamentary Affairs but he declined.
“I could not see the authority of a Majority Leader, the leader of the House, as a minister to be under the dictates and directives of the Executive.
“So, I have always argued against the Majority Leader, the leader of the House, being a Minister of State,” he noted.
The Speaker asserted that lawmakers should not serve on state agency boards, make decisions there, and then return to Parliament to approve those same decisions in their legislative capacity.
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