AfriPulse
Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has once again stressed that he does not take instructions from any President and is not obligated to follow presidential directives.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Supreme Court 150th Anniversary Planning Committee on Thursday, June 11, Bagbin explained that he was elected by Members of Parliament and not appointed by President John Dramani Mahama.
According to him, many people mistakenly believe the Speaker of Parliament is appointed by the President, but that is not the case.
“I am elected by an electoral college. But in the minds of the populace, I mean, they still refer to me as appointed, and I have to keep on correcting them that I’m not the president’s appointee. No, I am not. The Speaker is not appointed by the President.
He further explained that although a President may have an opinion on who should become Speaker, that opinion does not determine the final decision of Parliament.
“The President will have a say, but that say doesn’t mean that that will be the intention of the House, and we’ve seen it in this House, at least in my case in 2021. The Presidency’s say did not carry the day, so it means that really the Speaker is an appointee of the members of the House, and so I owe my loyalty and allegiance to them and to the nation. I don’t have to listen to what His Excellency and the rest will do. They don’t do it. Yes, I can listen to them because it’s part of the conversation, but I am not bound by what they say, and I think that I have tried in that respect. It’s very easy.”
Bagbin also called for major reforms in the way Supreme Court judges are appointed. He argued that the judiciary should have greater control over choosing its own leaders instead of relying on appointments from outside the profession.
“The appointments need urgent attention. We don’t want to allow other people to appoint who should be a judge or who should be the head of judges. They should have the opportunity to do it themselves. That profession should have the opportunity to do it themselves. In Parliament, the Speaker, MPs are appointed? No,” he said.
His comments add to the ongoing discussions about the independence of state institutions and the need to strengthen Ghana’s democratic system.
Source: TheGhanaReport | Read the Full Story…
