Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament has disclosed that at any point in time, the national interest is placed first in his deliberations with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Bagbin in a meeting with delegation from Ethiopia’s Parliament on Wednesday, August 12, 2021 opened up on his working relationship with President Akufo-Addo.
His disclosed that he does not always agree with the President on issues but they resolve the differences amicably with the nation’s interest always at heart of their resolution.
Bagbin who is of the NDC flock told the delegation that his relationship with the president should be emulated in other countries on the continent as it exemplifies that governing and opposition parties can work together amicably.
Bagbin said that Ghanaians are the ultimate judge so he always leaves things for the public to pass their verdict.
“The president calls me for discussion, but we agree to disagree. I go and say this, the president says no, he says this and I also say no. We agree to disagree. We don’t fight over it because the fight is not the solution to the problem,” Bagbin added.
“We just come back to the people and let the people decide. And it is not always that the majority’s right. Many times the majority is catastrophically wrong,” he noted.
Bagbin also disclosed how the composition of the eighth parliament is helping shape Ghana’s democracy.
He however noted that but for certain machinations, the governing party would have had the minority in parliament and that would have been a test case for the country’s democracy.
“…Power-sharing which is called consociation [is] where the president will have a minority. Though it hasn’t happened in Ghana yet, [but] all our colleagues here know that it is possible. And in fact, if not by other interventions, it would have happened in this government,” Bagbin noted.
He went on, “They would have had a minority in parliament with a president. Their General Secretary even announced it but the last-minute made some movements and some seats were snatched. That one is a statement of fact,” he stressed when the Ethiopian delegation inquired about Ghana’s parliamentary system.
