Bagbin vs Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu: How parliament has tested Speaker and Maj Leader's friendship

Two former colleagues known to be very good friends despite being on different sides of the political divide could pass as a summary of the relationship between current Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and 8th Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.

So strong a friendship that in times past, they have supported the parliamentary primaries of the other in ‘hard’ times.

After the 2020 general elections, Bagbin was heading out of parliament after over three decades in the house, then he secured a seat, higher than the one he was leaving in the house.

Bagbin was elected Speaker of Parliament on January 7 under interesting circumstances in a parliament that had only one lawmaker deciding the majority caucus from the minority.

Lots of analysis went into the implication of that development, would Bagbin create problems for the government seeing that he was an active member of the main opposition? Time, they say was going to tell.

In this article, GhanaWeb looks back at the three times that Bagbin has clashed, fallen out with Majority Leader Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu in the last three months of what is slated to be a four-year period.

March 29: Duo clash over Mosquito’s appointment to Parliamentary Service Board

The duo clashed in late March over an appointment that Bagbin had the prerogative to make which was appointing the NDC's general-secretary to the Parliamentary Service Board which the speaker heads.

For Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the appointment smacked of an intrusion of Parliament.

“It is considered by some members of the committee that the membership of Mr Asiedu Nketia amounts to an undesired intrusion into the governance of Parliament by a political party and may not in the circumstances bode well for the independence of Parliament since he is the General-Secretary of a major opposition political party,” a letter from the Majority Leader read.

But Bagbin defended his choice and dismissed fears of parliamentary intrusion as expressed by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs going as far as citing precedent for his choice.

“But I want to note that the former Parliamentary Service Board had Honourable Hackman Owusu-Agyeman as a member of the board and Hackman Owusu Agyeman later became the Chairman of the Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

“That one was not [an] intrusion into the governance of Parliament by a political party. What is good for the gander is also good for the goose. Honourable members the board will be constituted and we will start our work,” Bagbin stressed.

When leader of the house had another bite on the matter, he restated his disagreement and why he was willing to let the matter die.

"The reason is if I should challenge every ruling, and maybe there is a debate on it and Mr Speaker's ruling is brought down, I have succeeded in doing it, inflicting a mortal wound on the chair and that will bring the repute of this House down.

“I will never do that because it is for us to protect the Speakership and I will ever do that. So, I refuse any bait to challenge the ruling of the Speaker," he stressed.

March 24: 'I’m ‘number 3 in Ghana; what’s your number?’ – Speaker, Majority Leader exchange words in Parliament

Days before the disagreement over Asiedu Nketia, the speaker had reason to order the leader of the house to sit down in a confrontation that raised concerns over the relationship between the speaker and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.

The issue in question had to do with the modalities relating to how a petition should be laid before the house. The said petition was in respect of the liquidation of two indigenous banks – uniBank and UT Bank.

The Majority Leader held that the way Mahama Ayariga (Bawku Central MP) presented the petition was improper triggering an exchange with the speaker. As the exchange went on, Bagbin in an attempt to seemingly assert his authority clashed with his “old friend.”

An excerpt of their heated exchange reads as follows:

Bagbin: "Honourable Majority Leader, the business of government is led by you in this House. You don't lead Parliament, you lead the business of the House, you lead the Majority, and you lead government business.

As to the role of the Speaker, you haven't reached there yet, when you get there, you do so. Please, you've been my very good friend for all these years until I became Speaker and everybody in Ghana is doubting whether you are really my friend.

“I've received a lot of calls about that, and I said you are my friend, and you are still my friend but people are doubting it. Please don't give credence to that doubt."

Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu: "Mr Speaker, respectfully, I have been your friend until you became the Speaker. You and I know that we are still friends but we agree to disagree.

“Mr Speaker, Majority Leaders don't always act as leaders of the majority caucus and also when their party is in power as leaders of government business, but a majority leader is a leader of the House.”

Alban Bagbin: "You have to be my friend; not me to be your friend. At least I have a position in Ghana: Number Three. What is your number?”

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu: "Mr Speaker, your Number Three is not in government."

Bagbin: "No, I didn't say in government, I said in the country Ghana. What is your position in the country? Number...…?"

The Speaker has since constituted a nine-member committee headed by the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu to probe the issue.

March 18: Bagbin’s budget block threat, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s dismissal

Days after presenting the 2021 budget statement before Parliament in his capacity as caretaker Finance Minister, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu had reason to disagree with Bagbin over the Speaker’s threat that Parliament will reject the budget if the executive presses ahead with cuts to their budget.

“The budget is not for the executive, we have the final power to approve or disapprove and so what the constitution has done is for them to make recommendations and negotiate during the deliberations of the budget before the House," Bagbin told the House.

“It is not for the executive to impose a ceiling on the Judiciary or Parliament, they have to do the proper thing. …If you do otherwise, I as your Speaker will not affirm any letter for submission to the president for his assent. I mean what I am saying,” Bagbin stressed.

But in an interview after Bagbin’s threat, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu all but rejected the Speaker’s position averring that Bagbin had no power under the law to reject the budget.

“I think that this is not really a matter that, honestly, the Speaker should have spoken to it in [the] plenary. I think that he should have continued the engagement. After all, I’m the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs; I’m also the Majority Leader. This is not a matter for the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry though but it is for the Majority Leader.

He added, “Maybe he could have sought my intervention to engage the presidency. Truth is Parliament cannot make a request which indeed and in truth may perhaps go outside what the basket of the national resources can contain. There is a reason why when we made the request, there will be this backstage consultation.”

Specifically, on rejecting the budget, he said: “Well, if I have to be blunt, the Speaker would not have the authority to do that but I’m saying that if there is a misunderstanding, we can resolve it without escalating the misunderstanding.”

The relationship is three months old and the duo have over three-and-half years to work together all things being equal. Only time like they say will tell.