Bagbin becoming a tyrant, wants to turn parliament into a palace - Muntaka

Minority Chief Whip Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka (Member of Parliament, Asawase) has made critical comments about Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin, describing his former leader as a tyrant.

Muntaka, whose most recent exchange with Bagbin on the floor of Parliament was in connection with the procedure of the censure motion against Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, stressed that it was a hard thing to say about Bagbin but he felt obliged so to do.

“I am sorry to say this, when you want to turn the Chamber of Parliament into a palace, then you become a tyrant,” when pushed about whether Bagbin was a tyrant, he responded: “He is becoming a tyrant.”

He stressed that Bagbin had increasingly become intolerant and was seeing people who disagreed with him as being disrespectful.

“You are not a chief, you are supposed to be a Speaker of Parliament and a Speaker listens to both sides patiently even where there is a disagreement and that is the essence of democracy to sometimes even agree to disagree but where you personalised it as if a disagreement is a disrespect to you .. then I am sorry you are becoming a bad Speaker,” he added.

He added that even though Bagbin was his favourite of all speakers he has worked under, Speaker Mike Oquaye Snr, Bagbin's predecessor was far better at building consensus during his time.

Muntaka's comments ties in to recent submission by former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu who also slammed Bagbin over his directions on the same censure motion.

Amidu's views were contained in an epistle titled; 'Games in Parliament – The Speaker and the Minority’s Motion of Censure.'

It read in part: “Mr. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin needs to be told to stop talking down on Ghanaians as though he is a village chief and we, his subjects.

"No humble, learned, erudite, and experienced person will ever seek to silence his critics in a constitutional democracy by telling them that: 'In all humility, please note that there is deep thought in whatever I do. Don't underrate my knowledge, skills, experience, and expertise in Parliamentary practice and procedure.'

“It is for the public or one’s professional peer group, to determine one’s level of knowledge, skills, experience, and expertise and not for one to subjectively assert them and trumpet his competences to the world,” the statement added.

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