Speaker Bagbin Cannot Lie About The Sale Of His Residence - Women’s Group
A women’s group in the Eastern region has taken exception to a release by the Lands Commission which denied revelation by the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, that his official residence was nearly sold to a private developer.
In a statement responding to the release, the group, led by Mrs. Emelia Darkwah said the Lands Commission is attempting to “soil the squeaky-clean reputation” of the Speaker by implying that he is a liar.
“Everybody knows the Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin is a man of exceptional integrity hence the reason both sides of Parliament revere him. It could therefore not be true that he just woke up one day and decided to malign the Lands Commission,” the women’s statement partly said.
It accused the Commission, “of partisan shenanigans” asking why the Commission would rush to put out a statement “without even the courtesy of first reaching out to the Speaker for more details first.”
On Monday, Speaker Alban Bagbin revealed during a breakfast meeting at the Alisa Hotel in Accra that he recently became aware of attempts to sell his official residence to a private developer.
However, in a quick response, the Lands Commission released a statement basically saying that the Speaker’s claims are not true.
And even though the Commission did not call the Speaker a liar, the saucy tone of its statement implied just that. “If you are a serious institution of state and somebody makes a controversial revelation that concerns your work, the sensible thing to do is reach out to the person and seek clarification; especially where the person is of such high national stature as Speaker of Parliament; you don’t just rush to town and shoot off your mouth,” the statement of the Eastern Women’s Group said.
It pointed out that the Lands Commission’s operation is notoriously full of loopholes that people can take advantage of, and that the leadership of the Commission may not have been in knowledge of the sale because it was done behind them.
“We live in this country and know the notorious things that happen at the Lands Commission, this is a place where we have heard that even the Executive Director has experienced the theft of his private land,” the statement added.
It urged the Commission to apologize to the Speaker, and reach out to him for whatever information that he has rather than rushing to issue statements.
“In case the Lands Commission has forgotten, Speaker Bagbin remains the people’s Speaker and we will do everything to protect the squeaky clean image of this man who has managed to stabilize our first ever hung parliament.”
Meanwhile the statement urged the Speaker to keep speaking the truth without any fear or favour.
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