You used unsavoury words to denigrate Akufo-Addo – Afenyo-Markin replies Bagbin

Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has expressed disappointment in the Speaker of Parliament’s choice of words in a formal statement on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s position on assenting to the anti-LGBT+ Bill.

Bagbin, in a critical take, accused Akufo-Addo, among others, of setting a dangerous precedent for Ghana’s democracy with his letter rejecting the transmission of the Bill for assent.

After his 62-point statement, Bagbin adjourned the House sine die without allowing leaders to speak to his views.

For Afenyo-Markin, who took on the Majority Leader role weeks ago, the Speaker, through his statement, denigrated the president and also refused to allow leadership to be heard on a crucial issue.

Addressing the press after the adjournment, Afenyo-Markin submitted: “Mr Speaker went beyond expressing disagreement and rather pronounced judgment on what, in his view, was wrong.

“Mr Speaker did not only stop there; he also used very unsavoury words to describe Mr President. We believe that in a democracy, we have our right to disagree on views expressed, but we do not have the right to say things to denigrate another. This, we think, is very unacceptable.

“Mr Speaker said the President has undermined democracy and that he should have resorted to the Constitution in making certain communications to the House. We in the majority beg to disagree on the position taken by Mr Speaker,” he stressed.

On the matter of the letter from the presidency urging Parliament not to transmit the Bill till two legal cases are determined, the Majority Leader explained: “If you carefully read the letter that was sent to Parliament, Mr President limited himself to the process before the court, and the fact that Parliament itself, through an affidavit, had joined the issue, Parliament has filed an affidavit in opposition and is in court.

Afenyo-Markin also lamented a seeming ambush where Bagbin failed to discuss his move to adjourn indefinitely during meetings to discuss the business of the day.

“This morning, the leadership of the House sat together to discuss the various items to be taken. We have finished some, but there were some that we were supposed to take, and we were told that Mr Speaker would have to take the chair.

“It is very disappointing that after Mr Sopeaker had made known his own views about the letter sent from the presidency to the clerk, he adjourned the House without giving room for the leadership of the House to even comment.

“This we find very strange. This is a democracy; we believe, as Mr Speaker himself said, that this ‘impasse calls for reflection’. I will play that out to Mr Speaker that we all need to reflect on the way forward as a nation,” he added.