You will never speak in this House: How KT Hammond ‘displayed’ as Speaker of Parliament

On March 5, 2024, the Member of Parliament for Adansi Asokwa, Kobina Tahir Hammond, became the second MP to preside as Speaker of Ghana's Parliament.

In the absence of the two deputy speakers and being the senior-most member at the time, the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, was taking leave to attend to other matters during proceedings; K.T. Hammond was nominated to assume the speakership.

His brief reign was characterized by humour as he asserted his authority.

The new Speaker's first order to members of the House was that he preferred to be addressed as Member Presiding instead of Mr. Speaker.

While agreeing for members to alternate between Mr. Speaker and Member Presiding, the Adansi Asokwa MP was quick to note his intolerance of members using others' time to raise objections.

"I would take your time out of his time if you keep talking the way you are talking," he told a member who sought to argue on the need for him to be addressed as Mr. Speaker instead of Member Presiding.

Midway through a presentation by another member, the Speaker interjected to pass a serious caution to members, saying "hold it, I don't appreciate it when members are on their feet contributing, and other members are walking out of the floor. So keep an eye on those who have been leaving the place and let them come back," he ordered.

The Speaker also did not hesitate to inform the Deputy Minority Leader, Armah Kofi Buah, about his new status when the MP for Ellembelle walked into the chamber during proceedings.

"Welcome to the House, the Honourable Deputy Minority Leader; you missed out on the show. I am sitting in the chair," he announced to the MP, who could not help but open his mouth wide in wonder.

The Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, announced that he and his deputy had to leave a meeting to witness K.T. Hammond presiding.

"Mr. Speaker, we were at the Appointment Committee, and somebody slipped a note that your uncle is the new Speaker. I had goosebumps. So immediately I said we should come and see because I am not too sure what you can do," the Minority Leader said.

During the debate, a member sought to draw the Speaker's attention to the fact that it would be wrong to refer to a person as corrupt when a court had not found such a person guilty of corruption.

In making his case, the MP said the Speaker had faced prosecution at one point, but KT would have none of it.

"Wait a minute, Honourable Member. Now you make attributions to me; let me clarify. Nobody in my close to 24 years in this Parliament has ever prosecuted me. Completely untrue, expunge that; records, delete that reference completely from the records...

"Don't even go around telling some small boys that K.T. Hammond has been prosecuted; nobody, nobody [has prosecuted me] because I haven't done any wrong in this country. You are completely out of order. You won't talk in this room again," he said.

Watch the video of K.T. Hammond's time as Speaker below:

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