John Boadu is worried about some pronouncements of the Speaker
Bagbin recently said he had the power to remove the President
General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP, has had cause to take a dig at the Speaker of Parliament over some recent comments he deems unfortunate and serving no purpose.
The issue at hand is to do with Speaker Alban Bagbin’s pronouncement at a retreat for MPs over the weekend that he has the powers to remove the President whereas the President can do little when it comes to his removal.
The comment largely elicited critical remarks especially from the NPP stock on-air and on social media but Boadu’s reaction as carried by pro-NPP Asaase Radio is the most critical from a national officer of the party.
GhanaWeb looks at three instances where Boadu has taken a dig at Bagbin
Bagbion on Parliamentary 'removal' of Akufo-Addo
What Akufo-Addo said of his power to remove Akufo-Addo: “Let me reemphasized that the 8th Parliament is properly positioned not to allow itself to be bullied into playing second fiddle to the executive.
“Parliament can remove His Excellency the President; His Excellency cannot do that to Parliament. As Speaker, His Excellency cannot remove me, but I can through Parliament get him [the president] removed.”
Boadu’s fightback was as follows: “The Speaker as we all know is only benefitting from what he didn’t work for and as a result, he has been passing comments that sometimes are strictly unnecessary.
"For instance, he passed a comment that he has the capacity to impeach or remove the president and the president cannot remove you (Alban Bagbin) is totally unnecessary because he forgets that as a Speaker, he doesn’t even have a vote.”
“So, on what basis is he saying that or he’s going to supervise a distorted proposal for impeachment or what? I think it’s time he recognises that he’s benefitting from something he didn’t work for.”
Boadu's road toll suspension explanation
Boadu also commented in the recent back and forth with respect to the immediate suspension of tolls by the Roads Minister despite the measure being included in a yet-to-be approved 2022 budget. The Speaker last week asked the Minister to reverse the suspension.
“With the removal of road tolls, I think strictly and technically speaking, it is Parliament that enacts and suspend laws so nobody is lost to it.
“But in the interim, as we wait for Parliament, particularly when the government has put in a proposal of a reduction or zero-rated tolls, for instance, it is necessary for the government to put in administrative measures in other not to create confusion.
“Because if the minister had not operationalised the non-collection of tolls at that time, there’ll have been a lot of confusion at our toll booths,” Boadu’s stated in defence of the Minister.
Bagbin vs. Boadu on NDC Parliamentary Majority
In August this year, John Boadu was out guns blazing after Bagbin stated publicly that he (Boadu) had admitted that the opposition NDC had indeed won the majority in Parliament per the 2020 General Elections.
In a strongly-worded statement issued on August 19, 2021, Boadu chided Alban Bagbin and asked him to rise above the partisan level and focus on Speakership responsibilities.
“The General Secretary had originally taken the view that this rather outlandish and preposterous claim did not deserve the dignity of a response from him. However, he had to reconsider that having in mind the revered position of the person making the claim, coupled with the fact that he was speaking to an international delegation, hence this response.
“First of all, the claim by Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin is a blatant falsehood as the General Secretary [John Boadu] had, at no point, made any suggestion or announcement to that effect. Indeed, records have it that, in all the post-election press conferences and media engagements, the NPP, through its General Secretary and other leading members, had always maintained that it had won a majority of the parliamentary seats.
“John Boadu recalls that at one of such press conferences, [which video has been attached to this release], to respond to the NDC’s false and absurd claim that they [NDC] had won majority seats, and so, it necessarily meant that, the party [NDC] ought to be declared as winners of the 2020 presidential elections, John Boadu pointed out to them that it was possible for a party to win more seats in parliament and yet lose the presidential elections,” the statement read in part.
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