Edzorna Mensah Salutes Alban Bagbin On His Victory

…victory belongs to Jesus, and victory indeed is reserved for those who humble themselves without the usual gargantuan designations like Prophet, Reverend, Priest, Pastor, or Bishop.

Yes, God has done it again! The Good Book of Proverbs, credited to King Solomon says a Horse is prepared for battle, but victory comes from the LORD: Proverbs 21:31.

The man, Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin has all leadership qualities when it comes to knowledge, experience, and good judgment to serve as Ghana as The Speaker. He is gifted with being wise, friendly, decisive, and has listening ears for all without discrimination, notwithstanding the fact that every man is fallible.

S. K. Bagbin, sponsored by the National Democratic Congress is now the Speaker of the 8th Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana after beating the incumbent Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye who polled 136 votes with two (2) votes by polling one hundred and thirty-eight (138) votes of the total votes cast in the keenly contested Speakership election in Parliament with one rejected ballot.

He will serve for four years with two Deputy Speakers (First: Joseph Osei-Owusu representing the NPP and Second: Andrew Amoako Asiamah an independent MP).

He served as the Member of Parliament for Nadowli Kaleo constituency in the Upper West Region of Ghana in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th parliaments of the 4th republic of Ghana and was former Minister of Health from January 2012 until February 2013.

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Bagbin was born on 24 September 1957.  He hails from Sombo, Upper West Region of Ghana. Alban Bagbin was educated at Wa Secondary School and Tamale Secondary School.

He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Law and English at the University of Ghana in 1980. He proceeded to the Ghana School of Law at Makola in Accra after which he was called to the bar in 1982. Bagbin also earned an Executive Masters in Governance and Leadership from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).

After law school, he worked in the private sector as an attorney, rising to become a partner in the Akyem Chambers, a law firm of legal practitioners, consultants and notaries public.

He was first elected into Parliament during the 1992 General Elections. He represented the Nadowli Kaleo Constituency in the Upper West Region. Bagbin announced his intentions to run for president in 2008 on the NDC ticket, but he never stood for the primaries and later became the Majority Leader in 2009. He tried flagbeaership race again in 2019 but lost to John Dramani Mahama.

Following a cabinet reshuffle in January 2010, he was appointed Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing by President Mills.

He was also the Majority Leader of Parliament under President Mahama’s tenure of office; he succeeded Benjamin Kunbuor, who was appointed as the Minister of Defense. He also served as the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament from January 2017 to January 2021.

In 1996, he won the Nadowli Kaleo seat with 12,605 votes out of the 16,485 valid votes cast, representing 76.46% over NPP’s Lawrence Banyen who polled 2,213 votes representing 13.42%, Yuoni Moses Vaalandzeri of the PNC polled 1,490 votes representing 9.04% and Baslide Kpemaal of the NCP polled 177 votes representing 1.07%.

Bagbin was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Nadwoli North constituency in the Upper West Region of Ghana in 2000 general elections.  He, therefore, represented the constituency in the 4th parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana.

He was elected with 9,004 votes out of the total votes cast.[13] This is equivalent to 58.60% of the total valid votes cast.[14] He was elected over Dr. Anleu-Mwine D.B, an independent candidate, Clement Kanfuri Senchi of the Peoples National Congress, Ningkpeng Pauline of the New Patriotic Party, John Bayon Boniface Wetol, Domayele Marcel Aston of the National Reform Party of the United Ghana Movement Party. These obtained 3,411 votes, 2,089 votes, 718 votes, 145 votes and 0 votes respectively of the total valid votes cast.

These were equivalent to 22.20%, 13.60%,4.70%, 0.90% and 0.00% respectively of the total valid votes cast. In all, the party won a minority total of 89 parliamentary representations out of 200 seats in the 3rd parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana.

Bagbin was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Nadowli Kaleo the constituency for the 4th parliament of the 4th republic of Ghana.

He was elected with 11,296 votes out of 22,349 total valid votes cast.

This was equivalent to 50.5% of the total valid votes cast. He was elected over Clement K. Senchi of the People’s National Convention, Daniel Anleu-Mwine Baga of the New Patriotic Party, Sasuu Bernard Kabawunu of the Convention People’s Party, Bisung Edward of the Democratic People’s Party and Dapilaa Ishak an independent candidate.

These obtained 625 votes, 5,297 votes, 152 votes, 188 votes, 4,791 votes respectively. These were equivalent to 2.8%, 23.7%, 0.7%, 0.8% and 21.4% respectively of the total valid votes cast.    In all, the National Democratic Congress won a minority total of 94 parliamentary representations out of 230 seats in the 4th parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana.

W. Abe Lincoln one time said, “Good things come to those who wait, but only what’s left from those who hustle!”

This opinion piece is authored by Edzorna Francis Mensah,

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