The ‘ei’ moment when KT Hammond nearly forgot he was sit-in Speaker of Parliament

In one of the rare moments in the life of Ghana’s parliament, a Member of Parliament, other than the three principal Speakers, presided over sitting.

This is the second time this has occurred in the history of the second arm of government, with the first occasion occurring on February 16, 2024, when the Sunyani East MP, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, was nominated to lead the House as Speaker of Parliament for the day.

This was because the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, and his two deputies: Joseph Osei Owusu and Andrew Asiamah Amoako, were not also present for the sitting on the said day.

On March 5, Kobina Tahir Hammond, MP for Adansi Asokwa, got the opportunity to lead the business of the House as Speaker.

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

KT Hammond’s first order to members of the House was asking the House to address him as Member Presiding, instead of Mr. Speaker.

And as is the practice in parliament, after every sitting, the marshal escorts the Speaker of Parliament out of the Chamber, before other MPs exit.

But, in the case of KT Hammond, he got carried away when proceedings were over that day, forgetting to follow the procession out of the House in his brief capacity as the ‘Speaker.’

As can be seen in the video clip shared on TikTok, KT Hammond briefly stopped when the procession was moving out of the Chamber to interact with the Ningo-Prampram MP, Sam Nartey George, as well as some other MPs until he was prompted he needed to step out with the escorts.

When his attention was drawn to this, he quickly shouted ‘Ei’ to the amusement of everybody.