Alban Bagbin, Second Deputy Speaker of Ghana's Parliament
Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has sent a strong warning to Ministers of State to respect invitations extended to them by Parliament.
“Let it be known that the House cannot bend backwards to accommodate the Executive, we have work here to do,” he said on Friday, October 19.
This follows the failure of Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako -Atta, to appear before the House to answer a question by Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini, on the state of some roads in his constituency.
Some chiefs and people who showed up in Parliament to listen to the response of the Minister on the state of their roads were left disappointed.
Majority Chief Whip, Akwasi Ameyaw Cheremeh, said the Minister and his two deputies were on retreat, hence their absence, but Mr Bagbin was not enthused about the development.
According to him, “If the Minister is not in a position to come [and] the deputies do not also come, then the House will take it that, they are treating us with contempt because it is an order from the House and should not be taken lightly. We [MPs] should not work according to the timetable of the Executive, we have hours.”
