The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, says he believes in a Parliament that is respected and accorded its rightful authority on political matters, as long established by law and past rulings.

According to him, Parliament should defend its constitutional prerogatives and not be a rubber-stamp institution, subservient to the whims and caprices of the executive or the judiciary.

Addressing the media in Parliament on Wednesday, November 6, Speaker Bagbin noted that this vision has yet to be fully materialised in Ghana's Parliament.

He explained that Parliament "weakens itself" when Members continually resort to the courts for favourable judgments on matters that are essentially political and governance-related, not strictly legal.

“It is my strong belief the matter before the Supreme Court can be settled within Parliament through matured deliberations and compromises.

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“I hope in my lifetime, Ghana shall have a Parliament and a Speaker who are truly independent of Jubilee or Flagstaff House or any headquarters in the conduct of parliamentary business,” the Speaker said.

Speaker Bagbin affirmed that Parliament owes its duty to the people who established it and elected its members.

He assured that the operations of Parliament would proceed undisturbed, and no individual would be permitted to undermine its democratic mandate.

Parliament, he noted, must be empowered to fulfill its legislative role, including the indispensable function of overseeing the president.

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"The wheels of Parliament will continue to turn and no person will be allowed to disrupt parliamentary proceedings or to undermine the democratic mandate of Parliament," he asserted.

He further explained that while the public, media, civil society, and other governance partners can contribute and critique government actions, "these bodies are not constitutionally and legally structured and mandated to hold the executive account."

Instead, he said Parliament, as an elected institution, is "the will of the people, legally and constitutionally structured and mandated to do so."

“My dream, therefore, is a patriotic one: the existence of a firm, effective, efficient, and responsive Parliament whose members place national and constituency interests ahead of narrow, partisan, or personal interests,” the Speaker added.