I used two weeks to convince NPP, NDC MPs to vote for Bagbin – Muntaka

The Chief Whip of the NDC’s members of Parliament has opened up on how he managed to ‘whip’ his own party members as well as members of the NPP to vote for Alban Bagbin as Speaker of Parliament.

The Asawase MP has earned commendations from the leadership of the NDC and some Ghanaians over how he masterminded the party’s victory in the elections.

Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the NDC has gone as far calling for a national reward for Muntaka for his role in the defeat of the NPP.

"Killing may be wrong but if you see somebody going to bomb Akosombo Dam and you kill that person, the court will set you free. So, when you talk about disruptive conduct, it does not include one that stops wrongdoing," Mr. Asiedu Nketia explained.

Speaking in a Joy News interview, Muntaka Mubarak said that the work to have Bagbin elected as Speaker commenced immediately after the elections.

He disclosed that he spent over two weeks trying to convince members on both sides of the house that Bagbin is the ideal person to act as Speaker for the house for the next four years.

Muntaka said though Bagbin’s competence was evident to all members, it would have been foolhardy on his part to think that members were just going to vote based on it.

“We were trying to let them understand that this was in our national interest to get a Speaker on the other side so that we can put a check on the executive.”

“And I spent almost two and a half weeks after the election trying to reach out to as many members not only on our side but on the other side as well,” he said.

While the NDC caucus maintains that Bagbin, the longest-serving lawmaker in Ghana’s history polled 138 votes against 136 votes in keenly contested polls, leadership of the NPP caucus have indicated that both candidates obtained 136 votes.

Majority Speaker of the 7th Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has alleged that the position of Speaker of Parliament was conferred on Alban Bagbin.