NDC urges Bagbin, MPs to put national interest first

Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has congratulated Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin on his election as the Speaker of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.

He also commended NDC Members of Parliament for their role in the election of the Speaker.

He urged Mr Bagbin and the NDC Parliamentary Caucus to always remember the “hard-fought victory” in his election as the Speaker and put the national interest first at all times.

Mr Asiedu Nketia was speaking at a press conference on Friday in Accra on the “Election of the Speaker of the Eighth Parliament and the Fallouts.”

“I salute and celebrate our gallant NDC Members of Parliament for the brave fight they put up in the defence of the Constitution of Ghana and our democracy. By their resilience and dogged determination, they were able to produce an outcome never before seen in the political history of our country,” Mr Asiedu Nketia said.

"In congratulating the NDC side of the House, I must also commend the true nationalist on the New Patriotic Party side, who put the national interest above partisan interest, which led to the glorious outcome.”

He said the election of the veteran legislator and perhaps Ghana’s most decorated MP, who had been an MP since 7th January 1993, was a refreshing development, which presented positive prospects for the nation’s democracy.

“We call on the Speaker to Commission an inquiry into the unfortunate event on January 7, 2021, in Parliament, particularly the invasion of the Chamber by gun-wielding military men and the snatching of ballot papers by an MP and punish all those found culpable.”

He said that should be done in accordance with the laws of the country to forestall any such occurrence in the future.