Kofi Attor
FORMER NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho Central in the Volta Region, Kofi Attor, is crying out after a publication that the indisposed Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin, has snubbed his two deputies in Parliament to appoint him to receive visitors in his absence.
The DAILY GUIDE’s report, quoting from a memo from the Head of Parliamentary Relations and Protocols, indicated that Speaker Bagbin overlooked his First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, also known as Joe Wise, to ask Mr. Kofi Attor to represent him in a meeting with an international organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Per the memo addressed to Majority and Minority Leaders, as well as the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Health Committee, Mr. Bagbin asked his party man to receive the officials of MSF, who were paying a courtesy call on him.
“On behalf of the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Kofi Attor will host Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF); an Independent International Medicinal humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency assistance in more than 65 countries to people affected by armed conflicts, epidemic, natural or manmade disasters as well as exclusion from health care.
“The meeting will be held on Thursday, March 10, 2022, at 11:00am at the Speaker’s lounge, 12th floor of job 600,” the memo stated.
“I have therefore been directed by the Clerk of Parliament to respectfully invite you, Hon. Majority Leader, Hon. Minority Leader, Chairman and Ranking Members of the Health Committee to join Kofi Attor in receiving the guests as scheduled,” the invitation read.
Denial
The Office of the Speaker has rebutted the publication, intimating, “We wish to state that Hon. Kofi Attor is a former Member of Parliament who currently works in the Speaker’s Secretariat as Senior Advisor.”
In a statement issued on March 14, 2022, it said the Speaker assigns responsibility to Mr. Kofi Attor and staff of the Speaker’s Secretariat from time to time.
“In all these, he has never been assigned responsibility as acting Speaker, and those who caused the publication know this. In the instance under reference, Hon. Kofi Attor was assigned to receive a message, intended for the Speaker, from a delegation of Médecins Sans Frontières, an international medical humanitarian organisation,” the statement noted.
It stated that the said assignment could not make him (Kofi) the acting Speaker of Parliament, pointing out that the delegation was in Parliament primarily to meet with the leadership and the Health Committee of Parliament, which they did.
BY Ernest Kofi Adu