I will let them arrest you if you joke – Bagbin warns non-serious MPs
In order to step his foot down and bring some decorum into everyday proceedings in the hung Parliament, Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has cautioned that he will not hesitate to throw out disruptive lawmakers.
“I will be compelled to get the Marshal to get people arrested and sent out,” he warned at the beginning of proceedings on Wednesday, February 23, 2022.
“Parliament is not a place for joking. It is a place for business, serious national business.”
“This is a different type of Parliament. We must be prepared to change to accept the decision of the people and work together,” Mr Bagbin added.
The angry Speaker said he was sickened by the situation and asked some MPs to shut up while he was giving the warning.
He also criticised the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, for dismissing a motion to constitute a bipartisan Committee to probe the government’s Covid-19 expenditure, one which Bagbin has accepted and only to have it reversed by his deputy.
He said Mr Osei-Owusu’s decision to overrule him in the matter was unconstitutional.
“The penchant of the First Deputy Speaker [Joe Osei Owusu] to overrule my ruling is, to say the least, unconstitutional, illegal, and offensive. Be that as it may, I shall not be taking any steps to overrule the decision of the First Deputy Speaker to dismiss the motion as moved by the Hon. Ranking Member of the Finance Committee,” he said.
