Bagbin currently in Dubai for medical treatment?

“Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin is back in the United Arab Emirates seeking medical attention”, Member of Parliament for Banda and Deputy Minority Chief Whip Ahmed Ibrahim has revealed.

According to him, Bagbin was safe despite the recent uproar around the withdrawal of four soldiers who had been deployed since a year ago to be part of his security detail.

“I want to assure Ghanaians that their Speaker is still safe, Bagbin is safe and he is in Dubai for medical treatment, very soon he will come.

“When he comes whatever arrangement we need to put in place, we will put in place. As of today, we the leadership (of the Minority) are going to meet over the matter,” the Banda MP stated on Accra-based Okay FM.

In relation to the withdrawal of the soldiers as contained in a letter written to the Speaker’s office by the Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Ahmed chastised the withdrawal citing how other civil servants below Bagbin’s stature were beneficiaries of military protection.

When asked by the show host about the source of his information, he responded: “Kwame, we are part of the arms of government and we have information on wherever soldiers are deployed”.

“So you are telling me that the Speaker of Parliament does not merit the security that the EC chair and deputies, Duncan-Williams and Supreme Court justices have? Because Kan-Dapaah has four (soldiers) the Speaker does not merit the same? Kwame, where are we going?”

“I am asking that the deployed soldiers be withdrawn from all these officials, the argument that Kan-Dapaah has six soldiers but Speaker doesn’t deserve four is my gripe,” Ahmed Ibrahim said.

Bagbin was away in the UAE in December 2021 seeking medical treatment. He presided over a purported rejection of the 2022 budget before leaving the country.

In his absence, there was a purported rescission of the rejection and subsequent purported approval of the budget amid chaotic scenes on the floor of Parliament.

Parliament is expected to resume on January 25, 2022.

Source:
africaneditors.com