The Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has expressed shock at the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, over his traditional outfit he wore on the first day Parliament resumed sitting on Tuesday, January 25 this year.
According to him in an interview on Metro TV’s ‘Good Morning Ghana’ on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, he described Tuesday’s event in Parliament as “complete spectacle”. He said, Alban intentionally looked like a Volta regional chief on that day just to distract the important and major issues of the day.
“I was really shocked when I saw the footage from Parliament, I was completely shocked”, he told the host, Randy Abbey.
“What happened in Parliament yesterday (Tuesday) was a spectacle, complete spectacle and intended to distract from the important and major issues of the day”, he added.
He however stressed that, the Speaker is not the king of Parliament but rather an umpire.
“The Speaker is not the king of Parliament, he is the umpire in Parliament. The Speaker is not king, he is an umpire”.
In an interview last year with the state broadcaster, GTV, the Speaker however announced to the public that he would henceforth be using the Speaker’s cloak only for ceremonial occasions this year as part of his commitment to change the dress code and code of conduct of the MPs.