The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin has warned the Majority Leader and Suame MP, Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu to desist from publicly countering his pronouncement as Speaker.
His comment follows the Majority in Parliament accusing him of impatience for asserting the Legislature is broke.
The speaker on Thursday cautioned the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta not to treat Parliament like Ministries, Departments, and Agencies by asking for budget cuts and starving the institution of funds.
Addressing the media Friday morning, Majority Chief whip Frank Annor-Dompreh revealed that 25 million cedis allocation for goods and services for Parliament which had been outstanding had been released while going through paper works while the Speaker was telling the whole world the institution was broke.
According to the Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP, a little restraint from the speaker would’ve been better.
The Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has also made similar comments in media interviews on the matter.
But speaking on the floor of the House on Friday, Speaker Bagbin did not take such accusations lightly, explaining that his revelation Parliament was broke caused the Finance Minister to immediately release the funds yesterday.
He warned the Majority Leader not to ever counter his (Speaker’s) comment publicly saying “enough is enough”.
“…It is important that when the Speaker speaks from the chair, the Leader of the House that is the Leader of the Members of Parliament (Majority Leader) is not seen to be the one countering what the Spokesperson of the Arm of Government (Speaker) says. If they want us to give documentary evidence about the non-funding of the House for this year we’ll provide them. So when I heard that the Leader of the House had gone on air to say that what I said is not true, it saddens me. In response to what I said yesterday, the government proceeded to quickly release money yesterday to the House for the House to function. There’s evidence to that and that is on record.”
He added: “I will not take the Majority Leader always going on air to counter what I say particularly when I say it on the 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 the Speaker of the House by the votes of three-quarters of the Members of the House. Please, this is the last time I will refer to it and this is enough notice to whoever thinks that he has the same authority as the Speaker. I will take this in a conclave when the House convenes Tuesday, we’ll discuss it as Leaders in a pre-sitting meeting before we sit on Tuesday. Enough is enough.”
