Alban Bagbin is the Speaker of Parliament
Parliament historically rejected 2022 budget
Majority MPs walked out
Alban Bagbib postponed sitting for 30 minutes
It would have been imagined that having come from the stock of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and through which he was privileged to have been elected Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin would have been a little more tolerating of the members on the Minority side.
That however seemed not to have been the case on Friday, November 26, 2021, minutes before parliament historically rejected the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, also codenamed, the Agyenkwa Budget.
While presiding over proceedings on the day after having called for a 30 minutes recess so as to allow for MPs on the Majority side to be present in the House before the vote was passed on the budget, sitting rather resumed a much later.
When the House did resume sitting, the Speaker made an attempt to address the MPs on why the 30 minutes had dragged so much but some members on the Minority side thought that it was the right timing to interrupt Alban Bagbin.
He would however have none of that and that when he interjected his own address to discipline whoever it was that had interrupted his explanation.
“Honourable Members, please, I did suspend sitting for 30 minutes and… [turning to the Minority side of the House, he continued], please, will you shut up?! We cannot allow indiscipline inside the House. I am not prepared to tolerate it. I don’t benefit anything by being Speaker. I’m Speaker to serve my nation, not because I’m going to get anything better than I was getting. I will not tolerate that,” he said.
The House then went on to reject the budget but not before MPs on the Majority side staged a walk-out of the very motion they had put before parliament.
Watch it here:
