Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin
Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has said it was possible for a consociational democracy to happen under the Akufo-Addo Government but for some interventions.
He expressed his worry about Ghana’s political system been monetized and called for a relook at that political behaviour.
Bagbin also mentioned that if not for other interventions, what he describes as power-sharing would have happened in the current government, looking at the number of legislators that the Majority and Minority had.
“…Power-sharing which is called consociation [is] where the president will have a minority. Though it hasn’t happened in Ghana yet, [but] all our colleagues here know that it is possible. And in fact, if not by other interventions, it would have happened in this government,” Bagbin noted while addressing a delegation in a meeting held between Ghana’s Parliamentary leadership and a delegation from Ethiopia’s Parliament on Wednesday, August 12, 2021.
He went on, “They would have had a minority in parliament with a president. Their General Secretary even announced it but the last-minute made some movements and some seats were snatched. That one is a statement of fact,” he stressed when the Ethiopian delegation inquired about Ghana’s parliamentary system.
Bagbin, one of the longest-serving Legislators, further revealed that the Majority in Parliament is not always right.
According to the speaker, he plays a fair role in the law-making chamber in the interest of the nation.
“The president calls me for discussion, but we agree to disagree. I go and say this, the president says no, he says this and I also say no. We agree to disagree. We don’t fight over it because the fight is not the solution to the problem,” Bagbin added.
Speaker stressed that, after the disagreement between himself and the president, they only come back to Ghanaians for them to decide on whatever the issue was because, at end of the day, it must be the interest of the nation.
“We just come back to the people and let the people decide. And it is not always that the majority’s right. Many times the majority is catastrophically wrong, he noted.