File pic of Bagbin traveling to Wa
Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K Bagbin is returning from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he went for medical review.
He is expected to touch down Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at the Kotoka International Airport after spending 14 days for an undisclosed medical condition.
The Speaker left the country Saturday, November 27, 2021, per a statement to the Head of Ghana’s Mission in the UAE which went viral on social media confirming Mr. Bagbin’s intended travel.
According to the letter from Sheba Nana Osei Afriyie, Head, Parliamentary Relations and Protocol, the Speaker departed Accra in the evening of Saturday and returns on December 14, 2021.
“They will depart Dubai on Tuesday, 14th December 2021 at 7.35 hours and arrive in Accra same day at 12.05 hours on flight EK787,” the statement said.
Mr. Bagbin was accompanied by his wife, Alice Adjua Yornas, Head of Parliamentary clinic, Dr. Prince Kofi Pambo, the Speaker’s Secretary, and his aide.
He left the shores of Ghana barely a day after he presided over Parliament’s chaotic developments that saw the Members of the Majority side staging a walkout during processes to approve the 2022 budget and the House’s subsequent rejection of same.
According to the Constitution, a Deputy Speaker of Parliament is expected to act in the absence of the Speaker who had in his absence supervised the admittion of the 2022 Budget Statement and thrown out motion filed by Minority to overturn the approval of the budget.
Already, the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, told journalists after a crunch meeting on Monday, December 13, 2021 that “Obviously when Mr Speaker comes, we will take this matter up to possibly submit another motion on it because we believe that refusal to admit the motion was very bias,”
The Member of Parliament for Asawase in the Ashanti Region was angry that the First Deputy Speaker exhibited political bias instead of doing the work of a Speaker of Parliament.
According to him, the Bekwai MP has given the Minority no option than to wait for a member of their political party who has risen to become Speaker, Alban Sumana Bagbin to come for a fresh motion to be filed.
By Vincent Kubi