Bagbin’s Win: It is a setback to our course – NPP Chief Whip

Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Nsawam-Adoagyiri Member of Parliament and the New Patriotic Party’s Chief Whip has said the failure of the ruling party to have its nominee elected Speaker of Ghana’s 8th Parliament is a major setback for the Akufo-Addo administration.

The NPP in an intense race to elect the Speaker of Ghana’s 8th Parliament failed to clinch victory despite having the same number of MPs as the opposition National Democratic Congress, and the support of an independent MP.

Speaking on the effect of this on government business, Annoh-Dompreh said: “There is no doubt about it. It is a setback, I respect Hon. Alban Bagbin, I respect him a lot. But I think that in the proper context, in the context of what we want to prosecute as the agenda of government, it is a setback. Nobody would want to have somebody who is not sympathetic to your course in that big seat. So it is a setback,” he stated on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen monitored by GhanaWeb.

However, in the view of the Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP, there is the need for his party to not dwell on the past but be forward-looking.

“But I am saying that we cannot keep crying over spilt milk, it is done. What is done is done so we have to make do [with] what we have. Because thankfully, those we are talking to (the opposition) are a bit reasonable and I say a bit reasonable with the greatest of respect,” he added.

Ghana for the first time in its fourth republican history has a Speaker of Parliament elected from outside the incumbent party.

Alban Bagbin beat the Speaker of Ghana’s 7th Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, who was renominated by his party for the Speakership race.

This development, according to some pundits, is a hindrance to the pursuit of the Akufo-Addo-led administration’s agenda, considering the power the Speaker of Parliament wields.

On the other hand, some argue that this balances the system and will ensure proper checks and balances required of a democracy.