Speaker of Parliament has denied ever meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo outside Ghana since 2017. His denial comes after an allegation by former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, that Bagbin met the president in Dubai before the 2021 budget was rejected by Parliament with Bagbin presiding.
A statement from the Office of the Speaker of Parliament dated May 28, 2024, described the claim as malicious and a palpable falsehood. The statement explained the role of the Speaker in Parliamentary processes to quash Amidu’s insinuation that Bagbin had sought to unduly influence a situation that he did not have the power to.
“The Rt. Hon. Speaker requests Mr. Amidu to do the honourable thing and withdraw his statements and apologise unreservedly to the Speaker of Parliament and indeed the Parliament of Ghana, with the same prominence as he made the false and malicious statements, within seven days from the date of the release of this rejoinder.
“The failure of Mr. Amidu to adhere to this request would leave the Rt. Hon. Speaker to no other option than to take steps necessary within his rights to vindicate his name,” the statement signed by Peter Bamfo, Head of the Speaker’s Communications Unit concluded.
What Amidu wrote about Bagbin:
In an epistle calling out the National Democratic Congress (NDC), its 2024 flagbearer and national chairman, Amidu wrote: “Asiedu Nketiah and John Mahama, did your self-confessed corrupt Speaker of Parliament not meet the President in Dubai in 2021 before he returned to Parliament to turn a closed eye to his own determination that rejected the 2022 Budget Statement ad Economic Policy of Government? “Did you not see, observe, and read the reaction and excitement amongst your Minority Leader and his team after meeting the President on 20 May 2024.”
Source: ghanaweb.com
