Speaker Alban Bagbin has warned majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu never to counter anything he says again.
This follows some radio interviews granted by the Suame MP in which he countered Mr Bagbin’s comments on Thursday that Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta was starving parliament of funds.
Responding to Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s comments, Mr Bagbin said on the floor of parliament on Friday, 27 May 2022 that he is the Speaker of the House until it is determined otherwise and, thus, he would no longer tolerate such counter-statement to comments he makes on the floor of the house.
“Enough is enough”, he fumed.
“In Ghana, parliament is not supreme; it is subject to the constitution and, so, it is important that when the Speaker speaks from the chair, the leader of the House is not seen to be the one countering what the spokesperson of the arm of government says; and if they want us to give documentary evidence of the non-funding of the house for this year, we will provide that”, he said.
“So, when I heard that a leader of the house, has gone on air to say that what I said is not true, it saddens me”, he confessed.
“In response to what I said yesterday, the government proceeded to release money yesterday and there is evidence to that,” Mr Bagbin said.
“I will not take the majority leader who is going on air to counter what I said particularly when I said it in this chair.
“I will not take that. I am in control here and I will continue to be in control until my term of office ends or you decide otherwise, as members, to remove me as Speaker of the house by the votes of three-quarters of members of Parliament”.
“Please, this is the last time I will refer to it and this is enough notice to whoever thinks he has the same authority as the Speaker. Enough is enough”.
