Every Speaker is partisan; don’t single out Bagbin – Prof Gyampo to Majority

A political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo has admonished the Majority in Parliament to desist from tagging Alban Bagbin as a partisan Speaker.

According to him, it is normal for a Speaker of Parliament to be partisan since he or she belonged to a political party before ascending that high office.

The comments of Prof Gyampo follows constant accusations by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Majority Caucus that Speaker Alban Bagbin is only frustrating government business by doing the bidding of his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

However, in a yet-to-be aired JoyNews documentary by Kwesi Parker-Wilson titled, “Ghana’s Hung Parliament: A Blessing or a Curse Part II,” Prof Gyampo noted that successive Speakers of Ghana’s legislature have all been partisan.

“Every Speaker of Parliament we’ve had in Ghana has been partisan. Even all over the world, every Speaker of Parliament has been partisan. Were we not there when Nancy Pelosi openly shredded the speech of Donald Trump; she is a partisan Speaker of Parliament.”

“Justice Daniel Francis Annan was partisan, Sekyi-Hughes was partisan, Mike Oquaye; my own mentor, my teacher, my former Head of Department was partisan,” he stated.

“All these people have been partisan, suddenly, you want, Alban Sumana Bagbin to rise above partisan politics. What are you talking about?” he quizzed.