Ekow Vincent Assafuah, the Member of Parliament for Tafo Constituency
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Ekow Vincent Assafuah, the Member of Parliament for Tafo Constituency, has justified a description he made of Alban Bagbin’s leadership in parliament which some have viewed as an attack on the Speaker.
Ekow Assafuah is quoted by Adomonline to have said on JoyNews that his comment which has been interpreted as an insult on Bagbin was an idiomatic expression.
Assafuah, in an interview on JoyNews regarding Bagbin’s decision to dismiss Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta from the chamber on November 26, 2021, described Bagbin’s decision as ‘devil-may-care’.
His words on Joy News were “how on earth do you call a Marshall to sack the Finance Minister and others out of the Chamber of Parliament? This is why I described the Speaker of Parliament’s conduct as a devil-may-care and Ghana may be at a stand-still because of his decision to lead the House.”
The comment courted criticism with some arguing that the first-time MP did not show respect to the Speaker of Parliament.
Speaking on the issue on December 22, 2021, Assafuah offered apologies but maintained that his statement was not an attack on Bagbin.
“If you say that somebody is a devil-may-care, I don’t think that it is insulting, it is just an idiomatic expression,” he claimed.
“He’s like a father and I cannot insult him and in fact, if he feels insulted I apologise. If my words are harsh I apologise but in my estimation, I didn’t think that it was going to be something insulting, that was not the intent,” he stressed.