Africa-Press – Ghana. The Standing Committee of the Council of State on Tuesday held talks with Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, on recent developments in the House.
Prior to the meeting, the Delegation, which was led by Nana Otuo Siriboe II, the Chairman of the Council State, had held similar talks with the Minority and Majority Causes of the House on Wednesday, February 23rd and Monday, 28th, respectively.
Other members of the Standing Committee of the Council of State at the Meeting with the Speaker included Mr Sam Okudzeto, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Mr Paa Kofi Ansong, Alhaji Aminu Amadu, Professor Margaret Amoakohene and Prof Ato Essuman.
Speaking to the press ahead of the closed-door meeting, Nana Otuo Siriboe, reiterated the Council’s pledge to support the Speaker in ensuring that his tenure as the Eighth Speaker of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana would be a success, adding that they had been working behind the scenes to ensure that that was done.
He said they were particularly delighted that Mr Bagbin’s experience as the longest standing Member of Parliament, would be brought to bear on the speakership and that he would use his vast experience to manage and steer the affairs of the Parliament. “In such a way as it would make him the shining star in the firmament of Speakers that had paddled the Fourth Republican Constitution of Ghana.”
“We have cause to believe that recent developments in Parliament seems to demure from the high hopes that we had that we would support and strengthen you to achieve that distinction of being the Speaker of Speakers, especially with these developments of a hang Parliament,” the Chairman said.
He said Mr Bagbin had come to the Speakership at a time such as this, where there were equal numbers of both the Majority and the Minority caucuses and that the affairs of the House had to be steered with circumspection, adding that Mr Bagbin as Speaker was the most suited person to carry out such a duty.
“However, recent developments on Parliament have given us cause to feel that our hopes may not be realised and that we as the Eighth Council of State, if we do not give you the support that we pledged and sat down for things to go haywire, we will equally be accused of not doing our work as expected of us by the good people of Ghana,” he said.
“…..But we feel, as our elders say that, ‘it is bent but not broken’ and that it could be mended,” he said.
He said Parliament stood on a tripod–the minority, the majority and of cause the Speakership, and that for Parliament to be strong, all these arms had to be coordinated in such a way that there was harmony among all the three legs. Nana Otuo Siriboe intimated that Parliament should be awesome but not by any means awful.
“We have only one Ghana, we have no choice but to make sure that things come on board and then people will bury their egos and their entrenched positions for the good people of Ghana for today and for posterity’s sake, because we do not want history to be written and then we are put down as the Eighth Parliament and the Eighth Council of State which sat down for things to go bad. It will be a very serious indictment on us.”
He assured Mr Bagbin that the Council would want to support him to be the best Speaker that Ghana had ever had. On his part, Mr Bagbin, who expressed gratitude to the Council for the step taken, said Parliament was always opened to counsel.
He said none of them was happy the way things were going and that he had decided to organise a workshop this weekend for the Leadership of Parliament with some elders to moderate and facilitate. He said as a Speaker, he would be impartial but not neutral, because he had an interest, which was the same as the national interest.
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