Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has stated some reasons that he says may have influenced the Speaker’s actions in Parliament during a high-tensioned sitting on the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy approval.
On November 26, the Majority in Parliament staged a walkout because they claimed Alban Bagbin had taken an entrenched position against the government’s proposed expenditure, including the E-Levy and biased towards the NDC MPs.
The Majority had accused the Speaker of conspiring with his party to ensure that the budget was not passed as he oversaw the rejection of the statement without the Majority in the House.
After an erratic mood during that fateful Friday, the Speaker himself acknowledged that reactions from social media had not been palatable, adding that he was ready to put his integrity on the line to make the House accountable to the citizenry.
But Deputy Majority Leader, Mr Afenyo-Markin, believes social media reactions had more impact on the day’s outcome than the Speaker had let on.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, the MP narrated that it was on that afternoon when leadership had met with the Speaker to determine the best way to resolve the impasse in the House over the budget.
According to him, while this deliberation was underway, Mr Bagbin alluded to some damning social media reactions directed at him by political commentator Kevin Taylor.
“In the process, the Speaker said that there is a video where Kevin Taylor is insulting him that he was supporting the government to pass the budget, and his own people were insulting him,” he said on Saturday.
On the back of this, the Speaker “suddenly gave up on the engagement that he was going to robe and get into the chamber,” he further claimed.
The Effutu MP added that “Mr Speaker knows the truth. He said his people were insulting him. They’ve reported him to Kevin Taylor. And there is a video [in which] he [Kevin Taylor] is insulting him. These were his words.”
Meanwhile, Ningo Prampram MP Sam George has rejected this claim. He described it as “completely incorrect and unfortunate.”
“How is that a man who adjourned [the House] for 30 minutes and gave them [NPP MPs] three hours – two and half hours more, came back into the chamber because of Kevin Taylor,” he responded on the show.
He further demanded that the Deputy Majority Leader apologises to the Speaker for such comments adding that Mr Afenyo-Markin’s comment is “unbecoming for a leader of the house.”
