Allegations Of Bias Against Speaker Are Unfounded …Parliamentary Service

The administration of the Ghanaian Parliament has asked the public to disregard allegations that the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin is biased.

A statement from the Public Affairs Department of the Parliamentary Service said those allegations are baseless.

“Parliament will like to assure citizens that allegations of bias are unfounded and should not be entertained,” the statement said.

It comes in the wake of accusations that the Majority in Parliament has been leveling following the rejection of the 2022 budget by the Minority side of the House which had been present during voting.

The NPP side of the House, led by Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has been claiming that the Speaker illegally presided over voting at a time that they were out of the Chamber and by so doing afforded the Minority, which had vowed to vote against the budget, free rein to reject the budget.

But the Majority had staged a walkout after the Speaker had ordered all non-Parliamentarians, including Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who had prayed Parliament to be allowed to address the House on why they should approve the budget, to leave the Chamber.

It was in response to this order that the majority group had staged the walkout.

The Minority had opposed the budget on account of the controversial e-levy purposed to tax mobile money transactions and also the government’s refusal to make allocations towards the Keta Sea Defense project.

According to Parliamentary Service, the claims of bias are baseless because what happened in the Chamber is something that does happen.

 “As is common in all Parliaments, these processes are sometimes characterized by disagreements but usually, the House is able to come to some agreement. The events that have characterized the scrutiny of this particular budget is no exception,” the statement said.

It added, “The Rt. Hon. Speaker being fully aware of the national nature of the budget and the need to do what is best for the entire citizenry is committed to ensuring that Parliament conducts its business with this in mind.”