Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has firmly rejected comparisons made by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, suggesting that his current combative style on the floor reflects Bagbin’s own past conduct as Minority Leader.
Addressing the House after days of escalating tension, the Speaker delivered a detailed and pointed clarification, urging MPs and the public to rely on the factual record rather than popular narratives.
Speaker Bagbin said the repeated references to his legacy were not only inaccurate but unfair, especially coming from those who he believed knew the truth.
“You’ve been told often, and sometimes I expect some of you who experience it to respond, but you don’t. And you know, silence means consent. What the minority leader is doing now is not what I did. He has copiously referred to you people that he took inspiration from my record. Please go and read my record.”
He emphasised that his approach in Parliament was marked by restraint, calculation, and sensitivity to the political climate.
“I never on the floor raised my voice. I never on the floor tried to show grandeur on the floor. No. I studied the ecology, the political environment. I tested the pulse of the people, and you play along that. I didn’t do what you are doing. Please, everybody can go and read.”
To further set the record straight, Speaker Bagbin revisited the only moment in his parliamentary career when he openly protested against the Speaker at the time, the late Right Honourable Peter Adjetey.
“Only one occasion when the Right Honourable Peter Adjetey came and read a statement attacking me personally, that I rose up to say my side of the story. And he would not allow me to do so. My very good friend Papa Akomah, who was the Majority Leader then, stood up and said once he mentioned me specifically, by our Standing Orders, I have the right of reply. And he shouted at him and prevented him and ordered him to sit down.”
He also recounted how the confrontation forced him to temporarily leave the Chamber in frustration.
“And that day I took my books and stormed to my office. My colleagues did not follow me. They continued with the work of Parliament. It was in my office that the then few cameras, led by GTV, questioned why I moved out. And I gave them my side of the story.”
The incident, he noted, quickly captured nationwide attention and prompted a private engagement between him and Mr. Adjetey.
“I said, if this is how the Speaker was going to go about things on the floor of Parliament, I would go after him. That caught the attention of the whole nation. That is the only instance. And later when I met him and narrated that he accused me without basis, he pleaded with me to rather tone down my response, which was meaningless. It’s also captured in the official report.”
Speaker Bagbin explained that this single episode has been mischaracterised over the years and wrongly used to draw parallels with present-day events.
“I’m saying this because this has been referred to many times by many people that I behaved the same way when I was Minority Leader. If I did, we could have turned things around within two years and we almost won the 2004 elections. And these young MPs, the Minister for Education and his team joined us in 2005. Please, the opportunity is now. And that is why I am saying this.”