The altercation between Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin and Member of Parliament for Sefwi-Wiawso, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, has been deemed regrettable by the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA).
Because of a remark that was deemed disrespectful, Alban Bagbin ordered the Marshal to walk the Member of Parliament for Sefwi-Wiawso out of the parliament on July 22.
This came up in response to the Speaker’s remark that the whole complement of judges on the Supreme Court should be investigated by the house when the Appointments Committee reports on the two justices President Akufo-Addo nominated to the plenary for consideration.
The Sefwi-Wiawso MP pointed out that the Speaker has no authority to utter remarks of such a discriminatory nature.
Dr. Rasheed Draman, the Executive Director of the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs, urged civility in parliament during an interview with Citi News
“Maybe some will say the Speaker by walking this member of parliament out has exercised his utmost power granted to him as the standing orders. Many speakers have resisted doing it.
“On the other hand, some would say the member of parliament has also gone beyond what is considered reasonable limits when you’re addressing the chair. For him to be involved in this kind of verbal fight with the speaker is quite unfortunate.
“We want this parliament to finish its work and solve our problems rather than these unnecessary issues that will take away the important work they have ahead of them,” the Executive Director of the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs said.
