Don’t Take Disturbances in Kenya for Granted – Bagbin Cautions

Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has cautioned Ghanaian leaders not to take for granted what happened recently and Kenya.

There was a nationwide protest in Kenya recently where its citizens rose against a tax bill which was passed by their parliament. The intended peaceful protest turned violent which caused the death of more than 27 people.

Even though President Ruto was adamant to sign the bill, he later conceded to the pressure and the threat of more protests if he refused. Today some Kenyans are calling for the President’s resignation.

This was what the Speaker of Parliament touched on during an engagement with journalists in Kumasi. He cautioned that the same ‘could’ happen in Ghana.

“People sometimes take so many things for granted, including my colleagues in Parliament, but we all bear witness to what happened in Kenya, it is now in Tanzania. It could be in Ghana, I am not saying it will be in Ghana; I say it ‘could be”, Hon. Bagbin said.

He added that Ghana ‘is not different from our brothers and sisters and in the other countries, and so definitely we have to take preemptive measures to prevent that from happening’.

Hon. Bagbin pointed out that the government must ensure that due process is followed to secure our democracy as we head into the 2024 polls; “So I agree with you that we should do all we can to make sure that the right person that Ghanaians want to lead the country, leads the country”.

He made a personal pledge to do his part as the speaker of parliament devoid of any partisan inclination, “so in this matter I will do all that I can so no one will read partisanship in what I do; It is very very important. Because I invested my whole life in this business of politics. I was enjoying as a legal practitioner; really enjoying, then I thought that I could make a difference in politics. So I entered politics and I sacrificed my life and my family for politics”.