Speaker, Minority Leader Impasse Resolved

The stand-off between the Speaker, Peter Ala Adjetey and Minority Leader, Alban Bagbin has been put to rest after a heated debate and interruptions. This follows the Majority’s compliance with the Speaker’s ruling to allow Mr Bagbin to make his statement in reaction to an earlier one made by the Speaker last Thursday.

Before Mr Bagbin made the statement, Majority leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Papa Owusu Ankomah set the tone for the resolution of the impasse when he said the leadership of the House had had extensive discussions on the matter and Mr Bagbin has agreed to delete certain portions of the statement.

The Majority Leader insisted that Mr Bagbin should be allowed to make the statement in the interest of the house. The Majority blocked Mr Bagbin from making a statement on accusations Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker, had levelled against him for divulging a communication between the two of them on the declaration of vacancy on the Wulensi Constituency seat last week Thursday to the media.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority in Parliament walked out from the House on the same day because the Speaker refused to allow their Leader to reply to the accusations levelled against him.

Sources close to the Minority had hinted that if the Majority had not allowed their Leader to make the statement as it happened on Friday they would have walked out and boycotted Parliament on Thursday when President John Agyekum Kufuor would deliver the State Of The Nation Address. It was again planned that the budget that would be presented very soon to the House would also have suffered the same fate.

The Majority Leader appealed to his side to avoid any heckling and interruptions and said in the circumstances it was better for the statement to be made.

Mr Bagbin reading his statement to an attentive House denied ever divulging any communication between him and the Speaker on the vacancy of he Wulensi seat to the media. "I think that the attack on my integrity by Mr Speaker is totally based on suspicion. It is unsupported by any evidence. It is my respectful view that Mr Speaker owes me an obligation to remedy the considerable pain and anguish inflicted on me. I, therefore, humbly call on Mr Speaker to withdraw those portions of his statement impugning misconduct on my part and calling into question my hard won reputation."

He thanked the Speaker, the Leadership and his colleagues for their "tolerance, patience, understanding and solidarity in this matter." After the statement the Majority Leader rose to thank the House for their maturity in handling the issue while commending the Speaker and the Minority Leader for their tolerance, forbearance and for their wits.