The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has firmly restated that his role is independent of presidential commands.
He emphasised that his primary responsibility lies with the nation and the lawmakers who voted him into office.
During a Thursday meeting with the organizing committee for the Supreme Court’s 150th anniversary, Bagbin clarified that his position is determined by an electoral college, meaning he is not a subordinate chosen by President John Dramani Mahama.
“I am elected by an electoral college. But in the minds of the populace, I mean, they still refer to me as appointed, and I have to keep on correcting them that I’m not the president’s appointee. No, I am not. The Speaker is not appointed by the President.
The President will have a say, but that say doesn’t mean that that will be the intention of the House, and we’ve seen it in this House, at least in my case in 2021. The Presidency’s say did not carry the day, so it means that really the Speaker is an appointee of the members of the House, and so I owe my loyalty and allegiance to them and to the nation. I don’t have to listen to what His Excellency and the rest will do. They don’t do it. Yes, I can listen to them because it’s part of the conversation, but I am not bound by what they say, and I think that I have tried in that respect. It’s very easy.”
Hon. Bagbin advocated for immediate changes to how Supreme Court justices are selected. He argued that the judicial system deserves autonomy in choosing its own leadership, free from outside political interference.
“The appointments need urgent attention. We don’t want to allow other people to appoint who should be a judge or who should be the head of judges. They should have the opportunity to do it themselves. That profession should have the opportunity to do it themselves. In Parliament, the Speaker, MPs are appointed? No,” he said.
