The Leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has accused the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin of creating a highly divisive atmosphere that risks destabilizing the country.
This comes after Speaker Bagbin indefinitely adjourned Parliament on Thursday, November 7, citing a lack of business due to the absence of NPP members in the House.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament, Afenyo-Markin opposed the Speaker’s decision to adjourn the House indefinitely, calling it an act that “amounts to supervising chaos” and undermines the integrity of Ghana’s democratic processes.
“The Speaker is setting the country on fire, we were disappointed with his non-reconciliatory during his press conference. We call on him to demonstrate statesmanship, we want him to know that although we were not happy on the day he was elected, it wasn’t the NDC that put him but members of our side.
“Mr Speaker is hurting democracy, how can the speaker say he respects the constitution but he will not subject himself to the dictate of the constitution?
“The speaker supervised chaos, clearly the NDC is on a war path, they want confusion and they want lawlessness in this country and all these are being supervised by Mr Speaker.”
The Effutu lawmaker further clarified that the NPP caucus’ absence was not a matter of negligence or irresponsibility but rather the result of a procedural dispute.
He explained that the Clerk of Parliament had failed to print the necessary documentation—specifically the Order Paper, which details the agenda for parliamentary discussion.
This omission, he argued, was crucial, as it left the NPP unable to participate in proceedings without a formal agenda in place.
Mr Afenyo-Markin stressed that this administrative oversight had significant consequences, with the NPP’s absence being wrongly interpreted as a lack of commitment to parliamentary business.
He emphasized that the blame for the adjournment should rest not with the NPP caucus, but with the administrative lapse that prevented Parliament from moving forward as planned.