New speaker of parliament earned all his stripes when he served as a leader in the house. His elevation to the position of speaker is a welcome development and he would excel.
This is the testimony of former Adentan MP, Kojo Adu-Asare, who was MP when Bagbin served as majority leader under the Atta Mills / Mahama presidency – 2009 to 2013.
“During his days as an MP, when the honourable speaker rose to speak, the whole plenary goes silent like a cemetery, because you know somebody laden with experience has risen to speak. Ask all MPs,” Adu-Asare said on a radio talk program.
“That is the man we are talking about, so I was not surprised that people on the other side accepted to vote for him,” he added.
Bagbin was elected speaker of the house during the inaugural sitting of the house on January 7. He defeated the ruling party’s preferred nominee Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye.
At the time of leaving parliament, he was the longest serving lawmaker. He entered parliament in 1993 and served till this year when the 7th parliament was dissolved to make way for the new parliament.
Over the years, he garnered wide experience as leader of several committees plus having served as majority and minority leader at different times. He served as second deputy speaker in the seventh parliament.
