A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s legal team, Gary Nimako Marfo, has called for calm between the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, and his First Deputy, Joseph Osei-Owusu.

According to him, the seeming rift between the two affects the reputation of the House and the country on the international front.

In an interview on Newsfile on Saturday, February 26, Gary Nimako entreated them to demonstrate leadership to ensure government policies receive necessary attention and passage.

“What I think ought to happen is that Mr Speaker, Alban Sumana Bagbin, should calm down a bit. It appears that the manner with which he is speaking and his conduct and everything is going; I’m clear in my mind that he appears to be on some turf with his own MPs and maybe the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament.”

“I think there should be some form of cordiality between the two of them,” he told Newsfile host, Samson Lardy Anyenini.

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, took on his First Deputy after the latter dismissed a Private Member’s motion to investigate government’s Covid-19 expenditure.

He described the recent happenings as the First Deputy Speaker’s penchant to overturn his rulings.

But in a reaction to this, Gary Nimako blamed the Majority of MPs who secretly voted for Mr Bagbin to become the Speaker, saying they are part of the current happenings in the House.

He also criticised the Clerk of Parliament for not announcing the injunction that was secured against the Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson, during the election of the Speaker.

“Why did we get to where we are now? For me, I blame the two members of Parliament on our side who voted for him [Alban Bagbin] as Speaker of Parliament. That’s the beginning of all these problems. We should not forget that on the day of the voting, an injunction had been secured had been secured in the Assin North case, served to the Clerk of Parliament.”

“Be that as it may, we are now confronted with the situation where we have the Speaker who is on the side of the opposition, and it’s very clear. So clearly, if one person is absent, or two are absent, it means the party in power is in trouble of completing the government business.”