Alban Bagbin must eat humble pie
One of the things I learnt during my days in the university as a student of Sociology was that the great mark of an intellectual was to accept criticisms and admit his mistakes.
Advertisement
Since then I have respect for all those who in their wisdom believe that they are not the repository of knowledge and do not have answers to all the issues that crop up at the workplace, in the home or in the church.
However, in Ghana, especially among our elite class, this trait of intellectualism is absent and I keep wondering why our enlightened and academically endowed class have maintained that posture.
In the early part of this year, we were all stunned to read a news report attributed to Mr Alban Sumanu Kingsford Bagbin alleging that our honourable Members of Parliament take bribes.
This news sounded unpalatable to most of the citizenry who reacted in diverse ways. Along the line when Mr Bagbin realised that the feedback on that report published by the nation’s leading newspaper was not favourable, he sought to deny the publication and accuse the reporter of inaccurate reporting.
Initially, Mr Bagbin even denied ever making such statement. However, the reporter, who was recently rewarded by the management of the Graphic Communications Group Limited with a fully paid trip to watch the just ended World Cup in Brazil, stood his grounds and maintained that he never misquoted Mr Bagbin or misrepresented facts.
Finally, he made available a recorded version of the discussion in which Mr Bagbin made the allegation. With that development, Mr Bagbin had no option but to accept the challenge and expressed his readiness to substantiate the allegations whenever he was called upon to do so.
Consequently, both sides of the House (Majority and Minority) agreed that Mr Bagbin should be referred to the Privileges Committee. All these happened when Mr Bagbin was then out of the country.
Since his return to the country nothing had been heard about the case until Mr Bagbin was selected to lead the Majority in Parliament following the reassignment of Dr Benjamin Kunbuor to the Ministry of Defence.
A scanty report filed in the media indicated that there was a committee looking into the allegations made against Parliament by Mr Bagbin, but one wonders why the findings have not been made public; even though there is some doubt as to whether the committee has started work.
It is very amazing the way the leadership of Parliament has handled this issue considering the rapidity with which they have hurled some members of the public, as well as individual Members of Parliament, before the House whenever they made disparaging comments about the House.
A case in point was the clash between the former Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Mr William Ampem-Darko (Willie Pee), and Mr K.T. Hammond, the Member of Parliament for Adansi Asokwa.
Mr Bagbin, one of the veterans of the House, have served the people of Nadowli North since 1993, when the Fourth Republic was inaugurated.
Mr Bagbin, who was less influential during the first Parliament of the Fourth Republic, came to the limelight after he assumed the position of the Minority Leader at a time the National Democratic Congress (NDC)had lost power in the 2000 general election.
Coming after the heels of the very articulate and dynamic Mr J.H. Owusu-Acheampong, who was then the Majority Leader, the onus fell on Mr Bagbin to prove his mettle and win the confidence of his group in Parliament, as well as the teeming supporters and members of the party.
This he did masterfully with the support of some members including the current President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, then MP for Bole Bamboi, and Mr Mohammed Mumuni, a former MP for Kumbungu and now Executive Director of the African Carribean Pacific Organisation.
Mr Bagbin was one MP who is very critical of his own colleague MPs, as well as the leadership of the Executive, for their inability to meet the aspiration of the people who voted them into power.
Even the current President did not escape the ‘wrath’ of Mr Bagbin over certain happenings around the Presidency which he claimed did not augur well for the party.
It is, therefore, not surprising that the NDC in Parliament chose him to lead the party in the House because of his wealth of experience and depth of knowledge on parliamentary issues.
Interestingly, he did not assume that position before Parliament went on recess.
Advertisement
It is in this light that I will implore Mr Bagbin to reflect on his actions and eat the humble pie by apologising to the Speaker of Parliament and his colleague MPs before assuming the Majority Leader position in the House.
I hope if he does this, he would win the confidence and respect of his colleagues who previously called for his head when he maligned the august House.