Communication Team Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwaku Owusu Banahene, has charged the Majority Leader of Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu to respect the Speaker of Parliament like he has all previous Speakers.
He expressed worry over the constant disrespect of the majority leader towards Speaker Bagbin, saying, “I don’t know if Bagbin becoming Speaker is a worry to him or not. Just like you give the due respect to a friend or brother after he becomes king, so should Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu respect his colleague Bagbin who is now Speaker of Parliament.”
Kwaku Owusu Banahene made this statement in an interview with Happy98.9FM’s Epa Hoa Daben political talk show.
The Majority Caucus in Parliament says the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, appears to be instituting new rules that seem to undermine the rule of law without any prior discussions with the leadership of the house.
Police have tried without success on two occasions to arrest the Member of Parliament for the Madina constituency, Francis-Xavier Sosu, and have gone ahead to secure criminal summons against him in court, while Parliament has sent out strong signals that it will not countenance any threat from the police.
A statement released by the Majority caucus on the development said the refusal of the Speaker to release the legislator to assist with investigations into alleged offenses is of extreme concern.
“The Majority Leadership views the foregoing response by Speaker Bagbin as a troubling departure from how his predecessors handled such requests.”
To him, the statement is one of the many banters the Majority Leader has had with Speaker Bagbin “and that is too bad. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and can he do that to the President?”
The politician argues the Speaker of Parliament was elected by the MPs and believes the Majority Leader should be ashamed of himself for failing to gain support in electing a speaker from the majority caucus.
“Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is a failure as a leader of the majority caucus and must stop trying to disrespect the Speaker all the time,” he reiterated.
