Independent thinker Bagbin will never do NDC, Mahama’s bidding; says Council of State member E.T. Mensah

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, “will never” do the bidding of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its vanquished flagbearer in the 2020 elections, John Dramani Mahama, E.T. Mensah has underscored. According to the former Ningo-Prampram Member of Parliament, he knows Bagbin to be an independent thinker.

Independent thinker Bagbin will never do NDC, Mahama’s bidding; says Council of State member E.T. Mensah Photo credit: Parliament of Ghana Source: Facebook “Nobody can use Bagbin, no one can ever do that,” E.T. Mensah told Accra-based Citi TV.

Bagbin took the oath of allegiance and office as the Speaker of Ghana’s eighth Parliament on Thursday, January 7, 2021. Bagbin won the election to be Speaker polling 138 votes against the governing New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate, Professor Mike Oquaye, who managed 136 of the votes.

Former President Mahama was reportedly crucial in the nomination of Bagbin for the position of Speaker. According to the MP for Builsa South, Clement Apaak, Bagbin’s nomination for the position was a “decision made by our NDC leader, John Dramani Mahama.”

That notwithstanding, it took the NDC’s leadership in Parliament about two weeks to secure the veteran legislator, the speakership position. Minority Chief Whip and MP for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak, told Joy News on Sunday, January 10, 2021, that a lot of convincing was done to ensure Bagbin’s acceptance by every NDC MP. He said he spoke to all the 137 NDC MPs individually for two weeks to have them back Bagbin’s nomination. “We were trying to let them understand that this was in our national interest to get a Speaker on the other side so that we can put a check on the executive,” he stated.

A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, said Bagbin was “the best person” from the NDC to be Speaker under an Akufo-Addo presidency. He said, “If the nation must have a Speaker from the opposition who can be expected not to unduly frustrate the work of Government, then Bagbin is he.”