The Office of the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, has protested what it describes as a politicization of his health after details of his trip to the United Arab Emirates for routine medical checkup were made the subject of political propaganda on social media.
In a statement signed by the Speaker’s Counsel, Hon. Magnus Kofi Amoatey, views that the Speaker was being wasteful with national resources by traveling to Dubai for a medical checkup were denounced.
Rt. Hon. Bagbin, the statement said, travelled with a “comparatively skeletal staff, taking into consideration, the economic situation in the country and bearing in mind, the need for frugal and prudent spending.”
The statement continues: “The office will advise that the health issues of the Speaker and that of other office bearers are not politicized as anybody could be taken ill at any time.” The Speaker was accompanied by his wife, the Head of the parliamentary clinic, the Speaker’s Secretary, and his aide, according to a clarification.
The statement comes in response to a circulation of communication between Ghana’s Consulate in Dubai and the Protocol Office of the Parliamentary Relations unit of Parliament over the trip by the Speaker.
As the Speaker left town immediately after presiding over the historic vote that rejected the 2022 budget from the Akufo-Addo government, NPP members and sympathizers have been attacking the Speaker on social media some of whom have accused him of wasting taxpayer money by traveling with a large delegation to Dubai.
“Let it be placed on record that, the Speaker is accompanied by four Officials, to the exclusion of his Aide De Camp, Protocol Officer, Butler and other relevant staff.”
It made it clear that the trip for a checkup is only a part of the Speaker’s condition of service, just as is accorded every other person in the top brass of the officialdom of the three arms of government – the President, his Vice, and the Chief Justice.
“It is trite knowledge that most staff of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies also have similar facilities at their disposals and continue to take advantage of such arrangements to their benefit. Indeed, the records of the Parliamentary Service are replete with evidence which point to the fact that all Speakers of the fourth Republican Parliaments have, at one time or another, accessed this facility.”