KT Hammond assesses Bagbin’s reign as Speaker of Parliament
KT Hammond not happy with Bagbin
Parliament adjourns sitting to January 18, 2022
Kobina Tahir Hammond (KT Hammond), the Member of Parliament for Adansi-Asokwa, has said he will resist any attempt to behave like his colleague MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong.
KT Hammond in an interview with JoyNews tried not to attack Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin despite persistent questions by the reporter.
He, therefore, cautioned the reporter that “you force me [sic] I’m going to behave like my friend Kennedy Agyapong. He will say ‘I won’t talk about it’ and before you realize, he is talking about it. I’m not him so I won’t talk about it”.
KT Hammond then went on to offer his assessment of Bagbin’s reign as Speaker of Parliament.
He noted that Bagbin has not lived up to expectations and that more work needed to be done on his part.
He is however not surprised by Bagbin’s posture on issues. He argues that Bagbin’s loyalty to the NDC was always going to clash with his objectivity as speaker of the house.
He explained, “You see, let’s again be realistic. Alban Bagbin was always NDC. I don’t think he was ever going to change to be NPP. It’s not possible. And on the leopard and skin, and those things you know how it is. So Alban Bagbin was always NDC, he was running for their presidency. And we didn’t vote for him. We NPP didn’t vote for him. Except of course whatever happened, he won it.”
“So, the whole caucus of NDC, they voted for him. His spirit, his blood, his everything, he’s still NDC. There’s no doubt about that. You can’t blame him. Let’s be realistic politically. He’s sitting there and having been elected as a Speaker, he’s supposed to be neutral but is it possible? That’s the difficulty he has,” K. T. Hammond stressed.
The MP’s comment comes after the Speaker of Parliament was absent during one of the sittings on Monday, which resulted in fisticuffs amongst the MPs.
The Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, had earlier explained, the Speaker’s absence could have been due to the need for him to take his medications.
But the Majority alleged that the Speaker’s absence was part of a premeditated scheme to hamper discussions on the e-levy Bill.
Reiterating this belief, K. T. Hammond said the speaker’s absence was deliberate, as he sought to put government business in jeopardy.