I’ve not been tipped to be Speaker of Parliament – Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

The Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has refuted claims that he has been penciled to be the next Speaker of Parliament.

The Suame Member of Parliament explained that his party, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) is not prepared to lose him as a lawmaker hence,

“I cannot be the Speaker of the House, even though I would love that. I would have to lose my seat as a Member of the House in order to be the Speaker, but I am not sure my party is willing to go through that, considering the circumstances,” he said.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs noted that due to the close number of majority and minority MPs in the 8th parliament of the Fourth Republic, the NPP will not risk losing another seat by staking him up for the high position of the Speaker of Parliament.

This is because “the moment I take up the position as the Speaker, I would have to step out of the House because I can’t be a part of the deliberations after that” he stressed.

Regarding the concerns by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the elections were allegedly rigged in favour of the NPP, he stated the leadership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) does not have a complete dossier of their pink sheets in the just-ended general election of December 7, 2020, to lead them to court.

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs said that the NDC lacked diligence during the polls, hence their inability to compile the primary document upon which the election results were declared.

“The results are declared on the face of the pink sheets, are they disputing what figures are recorded on the peek sheets?” He asked.

“As late as last week their emissaries were scattered around the country because they couldn’t have their pink sheets.

“They don’t have the full complement of their pink sheets to go to court, I communicate with many of them and I know they don’t have all their pink sheets, I can say that on authority”, he said.

He accused the aggrieved NDC of negligence and a lack of diligence to have full access to their pink sheets to lead them to court.

“In 2012 when we felt cheated by the Electoral Commission(EC), we didn’t hold a crunch meeting to mass up in the streets, we went to court”, he said on Joy FM.

He further indicated that “has eaten humble pie” in the just-ended election by conceding that they have made mistakes that have affected the party.