The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Regional Communication Bureau in the Upper West Region has condemned what it says is an agenda by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Majority in Parliament to disrespect the Office of the Speaker.
According to the Communication Bureau, led by the Deputy Regional Communication Officer, Madam Eunice Kaminta, the deliberate and calculated attempt to always incite the populace against the person and Office of the Speaker was un-parliamentary and an affront to our democracy.
“The only sin of the Speaker is that he doesn’t belong to the NPP, and as a result of that, everything about him must be distorted deliberately by the Majority group, and [it] is becoming sickening. I thought it was one of the excesses of the leader of the Majority group, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu to also disrespect and undermine the powers of the Speaker, and the falsehood by Hon. Afenyo Markin has, indeed, confirmed the long,held thought that [the] NPP side in Parliament is on a mission of destruction,” she said.
Addressing a news conference in Wa last week Friday, the Deputy Communication Officer expressed disappointment in Afenyo for making following comment to the effect that the Speaker was unable to resolve issues in the House, because he was worried over insults rained on him by one Kelvin Taylor.
Madam Kaminta said the Speaker was an experienced member of the House, an astute and an accomplished politician, who has a high sense of display of emotional intelligence, and will not descend to the imagination of Afenyo Markin.
“The Speaker, whilst presiding over proceedings, cannot be privy to what happens on social media,” she said, and added that Speaker Bagbin did not discuss anything in relation to insults with Afenyo Markin, and she is, therefore, scandalised at the falsehood peddled.
She said the Speaker of Parliament was not centred on an individual, but a constitutionally recognised office. “The quest by the Majority group to bastardise that office is also an attempt to reduce the sanctity of the Office of the Speaker. It is important to make it clear that the scheme against the person of the Rt Hon. Babgin is an attack on the very institution they (Majority group) serve,” she said.
