Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Second Deputy of the 7th Parliament, has been elected and sworn-in as the Speaker of Ghana’s 8th Parliament.
His election to the high office follows a fiercely contested election and chaotic win over the now former Speaker of Parliament of the 7th Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Ocquaye.
Mr Bagbin, who belongs to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) polled 138 votes as against his predecessor, Prof. Aaron Ocquaye who polled 136 votes.
Mr Bagbin after his election as the Speaker of Parliament, was subsequently sworn-in by the Chief Justice, Justice Anin Yeboah.
Member of Parliament for Bekwai Constituency, Joseph Osei-Owusu was appointed First Deputy Speaker of the 8th Parliament.
Independent Candidate and Member of Parliament-elect for Fomena Constituency and formerly of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Andrew Amoako Asiamah, was appointed Second Deputy Speaker of the 8th Parliament.
As a former Health Minister in the Mills administration in 2008, Mr Bagbin became Majority Leader in Parliament in 2009.
Following a Cabinet reshuffle in January 2010, he was appointed Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing by the late President John Atta Mills.
In the Mahama administration, he was the Majority Leader of Parliament after he succeeded Dr Benjamin Kunbuor who was appointed as the Minister of Defense.
Chaos in Parliament
Tempers flared in Parliament on Thursday, January 7, 2021 as the Clerk of Parliament, who was presiding over the voting exercise, initially ruled that the MP-elect for Assin North, James Gyekye Quayson, cannot participate in the voting process because of a court injunction.
The decision did not go down well with National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs-elect, ensuing in pockets of altercations and fisticuffs in the Chamber as marshals of parliament had it tough restoring law and order in the House.
At a point when order was restored and voting began, MP-elect for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak, led a charge to snatch the ballot box while others kicked the voting booth leading to total melee in the Chamber in the full glare of the public.
The melee in Parliament, resulted in the trooping in of armed military men who were however, hooted out of Parliament by MPs-elect of the NDC.
