Bagbin slams MPs over despicable conduct during his election as Speaker

- Alban Bagbin has condemned the conduct of members leading to his election

- He, thus, urged them to work in unity and restore Parliament battered dignity

- He defeated Professor Mike Oquaye in a contentious election to become the Speaker

Trending topics on the go: How we write news at YEN.com.gh

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on Friday, January 15, 2021, addressed the anarchy leading to his election.

He chastised the “despicable” conduct of the members saying it had eroded the dignity of the law-making chamber.

“It was…to put it mildly, despicable conduct unbecoming of people of honour,” the Speaker of the eighth Parliament said per a starrfm.com.gh report.

That notwithstanding, he expressed optimism that the spectacle of that “historical day” would be repeated.

Read also

Ablakwa strikes again: Reveals Godfred Dame has resigned from National Cathedral post

He further urged that deliberate steps must be taken to restore the muddied and lost dignity of the law-making chamber.

Meanwhile, Bagbin declared the New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus in Parliament as the majority when the eighth Parliament reconvened for its first meeting after a chaotic inauguration on January 7.

It follows a formal notice to him by the Independent MP for Fomena, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, expressing his desire to align with the NPP caucus.

Bagbin declaration would settle the endless kerfuffle and debate over who could claim majority status.

In other news, President Nana Akufo-Addo’s lawyer in the 2020 election petition, Akoto Ampaw, chastised former President John Mahama for holding the electoral commission to ransom for committing “immaterial” errors in the collation of the presidential results.

On Wednesday, December 30, 2020, John Mahama filed a petition before the Supreme Court to challenge the outcome of the election.

Read also

Akufo-Addo supports the removal of the death penalty: Francis-Xavier Sosu rallies support for motion

Speaking later that day, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said he was contesting the outcome to remove doubts in the minds of Ghanaians over the credibility of the electoral process.

He believes the exercise was tainted with egregious irregularities, handing over undeserved victory to President Akufo-Addo.

Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Ghana

The Jean Mensa-led EC said in its response to the Mahama’s petition it was likely it committed mistakes in the collation and computation of results for the presidential race.

Nonetheless, they did not have a material effect on the overall results as declared, the commission.

Responding to the motion by the lawyer for the former president, Tsatsu Tsikata seeking to correct mistakes made in the petition, Ampaw held everyone makes and Mahama should have been considerate with his attacks on the EC for making “immaterial” errors.

Read also

NPP's defeat in Assin North by-election shows vote buying dying out - UCC Lecturer

“That is so, we all make mistakes and that is why we believe that the petitioner should have been more kind of the innocuous errors made by the 1st Respondents”, he said.

Enjoy reading our stories?

Join YEN.com.gh's Telegram channel!

Never miss important updates!

Source: YEN.com.gh