Seating Arrangements Aren’t My Job – Bagbin
Speaker of Parliament explains his role and urges MPs to focus on substance over seating politics
- Bagbin asserts it’s not the Speaker’s role to decide where MPs sit in Parliament
- The majority is defined by the number of seats held, not seating position
- Bagbin calls for MPs to prioritize parliamentary order and resolve issues through discussion
Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has clarified that it is not his responsibility to determine where Members of Parliament (MPs) sit, amid ongoing controversy over which party holds the majority in Parliament.
Bagbin’s comments come after his recent declaration of four parliamentary seats as vacant, a move that sparked claims by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus of now holding the majority.
The seating dispute has led to confusion among MPs, with various parties offering differing interpretations of what the vacant seats mean for the majority-minority distinction.
On November 6, Bagbin addressing the media emphasized that while Ghana’s Parliament follows a Westminster-style system, the Speaker does not dictate seating arrangements. Rather, these are shaped by parliamentary conventions and the existing power balance, not by formal rules.
“The Speaker’s role does not include deciding where MPs sit,” Bagbin remarked. “In fact, in some parliaments, the concepts of ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ no longer apply as rigidly as they once did. In our case, the majority typically sits to the right of the Speaker, and the minority to the left, reflecting our adoption of the British model after independence. However, it is the number of seats that ultimately determines majority and minority, not seating assignments.”
Bagbin urged MPs to focus on maintaining parliamentary order and resolving differences through dialogue, rather than allowing seating arrangements to distract from more pressing issues.
