Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has said he will not like to be called before any investigative body for questioning on any matter after he has left office as the speaker of the Eighth Parliament.
He has consequently warned that he will not work on any document that is not emanating from government sources, saying, “I know the legal implications and I will not risk that.”
“We (Parliament) deal with the government and so when you enter into those agreements with the private sector or what not, we will depend on your communication and the documents that you will attach to this communication are the authentic documents for our attention,” Mr. Bagbin stated on the floor of Parliament.
He was commenting on Article 181 (5) of the 1992 Constitution which says “This article shall, with the necessary modifications by Parliament, apply to an international business or economic transaction to which the Government is a party as it applies to a loan.”
“I know why I am saying this, and so the Ministry of Finance, kindly take note. We have given you a number of promptings to write officially to us, attaching agreements that the Minister has entered into with various agencies for us to work on,” he added.
He continued, “As of today after one year, it has not been done, and we cannot depend on documents from those agencies as authentic documents to work with.”
Speaker Bagbin noted that “this is a notice to the Ministry of Finance. Personally, I have called the Ministry a number of times and we are not getting the necessary responses from them.”
“Please, take these things seriously. The judgment debts are becoming too much for the country, and we don’t want to be part of it,” he asserted, stressing, “I will not work on any document that is not emanating from a government source. I know the legal implications and I will not risk that.”
“I don’t want to leave this seat after that to be called to any agency to be investigated because of something, no.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House