The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has asked Ghanaians not to hold him accountable for decisions made by Members of Parliament in the House.

 

Speaking at the swearing-in of new executives of the Parliamentary Press Corps on Monday, Speaker Bagbin explained that he presides over the House and is not involved in decision-making and, therefore, not responsible for the decisions Parliamentarians take.

 

Speaker Alban Bagbin’s comment comes after being chastised for allowing a one-sided Majority House to approve the contentious e-levy last week after the Minority Group walked out to challenge the bill’s passage.

 

 

But the Speaker argued that the Constitution bars him from participating in debates on the floor and, therefore, should not be blamed.

 

“When it comes to shove and pull, push and pull, members are equally matched, and I am not a Member of Parliament. When you look at Article 93, actually, I am not defined as part of Parliament.

 

“You understand, so sometimes don’t hold me responsible for decisions that are taken by the House when I am not part of the decision-making process; I just preside,” he said.

According to him, the rules at Parliament are structured for a majoritarian system; therefore, it ought to be reviewed since Parliament is currently experiencing a new form of Parliament, thus hung Parliament.

 

 

 

 

 

“So we are now trying to tweet the draft that we had earlier to incorporate some rules that can assist us in managing the situation,” he said.

He also mentioned challenges he had to cope with using the majoritarian system to rule in the present hung system.

“In trying to use these old rules to manage this new creature has not been easy, and that should be expected, but the people don’t understand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Why this behaviour? The behaviour of the current Parliament is different from the previous ones because this current Parliament is not the same as the previous, and I think that not all of us anticipated that this will happen to us,” he stressed.

 

 

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