Brawl In Parliament: You Can't Blame Bagbin; He's Sick! - Pratt Bails Out Speaker

Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt says he sees nothing wrong with the Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin absenting himself from Parliament which called for his First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, to take over the reigns resulting in a brawl between the Majority and Minority on Monday, December 20, 2021.

Just before the Certificte of Urgency final vote on the controversial e-levy Monday night, proceedings in the House turned into violence as the Majority and Minority members threw punches at one another.

What triggered the Parliamentary chaos was a decision by Hon. Joseph Osei-Owusu to exercise his original vote in his capacity as a Member of Parliament(MP) during a division to approve the bill.

As critics slam the Parliamentarians for misbehaving in the House, the Speaker, Alban Bagbin has also been 'slapped' for not presiding over the proceedings.

He is said to have absented himself without giving prior notice to his Deputy Speakers and the MPs.

Some critics also smell something fishy about his absence as they claim it might have been a ploy to ruin the Majority voting.

But Kwesi Pratt has bailed out the Speaker, stressing his absence is not shocking for any person to read meanings into it.

He explained that he (Bagbin) has been incapacitated for awhile now, so might have stayed away from Parliament due to health reasons.

He therefore doesn't see why the Speaker should be blamed for the Parliamentary brawl.

''I'm not surprised that Rt. Hon. Bagbin didn't sit in his Speaker's seat. Because we all know he is sick and recently did an operation or surgery. Yesterday, Parliament sat from morning continuous and around 11:45 pm, when I was retiring to my bed, they were still in there. I don't know the time that they closed. So,  a person who just had a surgery, how do expect him to stay all that long as Speaker? It's not possible," he said during Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo'.