You're Not The First Speaker Since 1992; Your Behaviour Is Unbecoming - Fmr. MP Rebukes Bagbin

Former Member of Parliament(MP) for Okaikwei North, Fuseini Issah has lambasted Speaker Alban Bagbin for shutting up a Member of Parliament while addressing them in the chamber.

The Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin threatened to get recalcitrant Members of Parliament arrested for disrupting proceedings.

Addressing the House on Wednesday, he warned the members not to joke with parliamentary proceedings stressing the House is for serious national business.

He also told an MP to 'shut up' causing a stir on social media.

Reacting to the Speaker's behaviour, Mr. Fuseini Issah advised Hon. Bagbin to engage in a self-introspection as he is fully to blame for how the 8th Parliament is behaving.

"Speaker Bagbin is not the first Speaker since 1992. There have been Speakers upon Speakers," he said, stressing his (Bagbin) predecessors left a good legacy, so expects him to also leave a legacy.

But, to him, the way Mr. Bagbin is steering the affairs of the House is disturbing.

"What do we see today? The Speaker is even in the news more times than the institution he leads . . . Let's ask the Speaker; how does he run his office as a Speaker?'' he exclaimed.

He added; "Look at the way the Speaker dresses into Parliament. Who does he consult before dressing the way he does? Who was told that he is going to change the dress code at Parliament?"

He scolded the Speaker for shutting up an MP saying, "when you are in Parliament and someone is talking on the other side, once your mic is not on, you are even allowed to heckle so far as you will use decorous language and not insult nobody. It's part of parliamentary [proceedings] but now it looks like the Speaker is the referee, goalkeeper, striker, midfielder and defender at the same time".

Fuseini Issah admonished the leadership of Parliament to address the attitude of the Speaker.

"The leadership of Parliament should sit up and look at this attitude of the Speaker. I feel the Speaker is in the news too many times more than the institution he is leading. And if the eighth Parliament will be useful to Ghana, this sort of behavior should be stopped."