Should Speaker Bagbin Be Removed?

The recent suspension of the Parliamentary Public Hearings on the Anti-Gay and Lesbian Bill, a hot-button issue that is largely being pushed by the agenda-bereft leaders of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), may very well have been actuated by the constitutionally authoritative presence and masterful counter presentation by top-notch lawyer Akoto Ampaw before the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, in which the lambent-witted luminary underscored the fact that Parliamentary Speaker Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin flagrantly and inexcusably violated Article 103 of Ghana’s 1992 Republican Constitution, when the former National Democratic Congress’ Member of Parliament for the Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency, in the Upper-West Region, lamely consented to place the Anti-LGBTQI+ Bill before the august House of Parliament (See “Adultery, Teenage Pregnancy Threaten Our Values [More] Than LGBTQI+ [Lifestyle] – Akoto Ampaw” RainbowRadioOnline.com / Ghanaweb.com 11/12/21).

Now, it is indisputably clear that Speaker Bagbin, who deviously maneuvered his way into the third most powerful position in government and the land, has absolutely no worthwhile understanding of the Constitution and no business being President of the Ghana National Assembly. In other words, in the implicit and scholastically unimpeachable opinion of Lawyer Akoto Ampaw, Speaker Bagbin ought to be promptly removed or discharged from office, or Ghana runs the imminent risk of a benighted relapse into the terror-charged climate that characterized the Rawlings-Tsikata Diarchy and the Jeremiah “Jerry” John Rawlings-led virtual junta of the National Democratic Congress. But, of course, it would be grossly remiss if we also do not call for the prompt and immediate removal of the Parliamentary Majority Leader, that is, Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, whose imperative removal yours truly has been calling for, for quite a considerable while now.

We recall the fact that our initial call for Mr. Mensah-Bonsu’s removal as the Parliamentary Majority Leader was squarely based on the fact that the Kumasi-Suame Member of Parliament on the ticket of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has absolutely no remarkable facility for or professional training and knowledge of the law. As well, by his own personal public confession, Mr. Mensah-Bonsu spent only one term or semester as a student of law at the University of Ghana, if memory serves us accurately. And then, of course, we also all know that one term or a semester in any reputable academic and/or legal studies program is criminally inadequate to qualify the subject of such training or experience for the highly sensitive post of Parliamentary Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in any serious and globally significant constitutional democracy like Ghana. Plus, Ghanaians can ill-afford to have our National Assembly jampacked with a leadership that has absolutely no worthwhile appreciation for the fundamental human rights of each and every Ghanaian citizen, irrespective of ethnicity, gender, religion, culture and sexual orientation.

It is also far long past time for Ghana to demonstrate to both its global citizenry and the greater international community at large that it has the personnel and the brain power to effectively operate a civilized modern constitutional democracy. As well, Attorney Akoto Ampaw wittily and perspicuously highlights the fact that Article 108 of Ghana’s 1992 Republican Constitution also precludes the Speaker of Parliament and/or his/her assigns from laying any Bill before Parliament for reading and passage or approval that egregiously violates the statutory mandate or edict that any such Bill or Act that has the great potentiality of dipping into the Consolidated Fund or Ghanaian taxpayer resources, can only be laid by members of the Executive Branch of Government, in the main the President of the Sovereign Democratic Republic of Ghana or his/her delegated minions, representatives and assigns.

Ultimately and equally masterfully, Mr. Akoto Ampaw authoritatively emphasized in his parliamentary presentation that if the promoters and campaigners of the Anti-Gay and Lesbian Bill were really interested in the salutary and purposeful development of Ghana, they would be intensely and studiously focused on the high spate of teenage pregnancy in the country, a criminal and egregious act of sociocultural irresponsibility of the highest and most heinous order, of which a critical mass of the very same politicians and parliamentarians recklessly and unconscionably pushing for the passage of the Anti-LGBTQI+ Bill are most guilty. It is also very obvious that Speaker Bagbin and the rest of the thuggish leadership of the National Democratic Congress have run out of any viable national development plan or agenda, thus their rabid and riotous fixation on an emotionally charged and volatile issue like the current persecution and very shameless and dastardly attempt to proscribe the culture and lifestyle of members of the LGBTQI+ community, as their cheapest route to regaining power.

These NDC carpetbaggers and robber-barons must rest assured that, by and large, Ghanaian voters are discerning enough and very capable of offering their electoral mandate to the political party establishment with a proven track-record of looking after their interests and well-being. You see, criminalizing members of the gay and lesbian community will not add one cedi or even a pesewa to President Akufo-Addo’s Fee-Free Senior High School System which, by the way, National Democratic Congress’ stalwarts like Speaker Bagbin and former President John “Akonfem-Kanazoe” Dramani Mahama fiercely opposed and even threatened court action to prevent this most progressive and game-changing national development policy initiative from getting off the drawing board and off the ground as well.

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By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

English Department, SUNY-Nassau

Garden City, New York

November 13, 2021

E-mail: okoampaahoofekwame@gmail.com