Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George has assured Ghanaians that the NDC will not take advantage of the election of its member, Alban Bagbin as Speaker of Parliament to frustrate President Akufo-Addo in his second term of office.
The NDC in the December 2020 elections matched the governing NPP by also winning 137 seats in Parliament.
Ghana currently has a hung Parliament and has the Speaker of Parliament emerging from an opposition party. There have been concerns about how President Akufo-Addo’s working relation with Parliament will be, especially with the historic turn of events.
Mr Sam George in an interview on an Accra based radio station said if the NDC wanted to hold the President to ransom, the Speaker would not have been allowed to appear for the President’s swearing-in ceremony.
The NDC caucus, he said, could have asked the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei-Owusu to replace Mr Bagbin for the investiture but the NDC according to him is not that kind of party.
He said the party has proven to be consensus builders, after seceding the first Deputy Speaker position to the NPP.
The NDC, he noted, nominated the independent candidate as Second Deputy Speaker, an indication of the party’s demonstrable commitment to safeguarding the democracy of the country.
Mr. Bagbin, who was presented by the NDC as its candidate for Speaker, won the keenly contested election with 138 votes in the 275-member legislative house.
His only contender, the Speaker of the 7th Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye who was proposed by the NPP, polled 136 votes. There was also one spoilt ballot.
