The Speaker of Parliament Rt. Honourable Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has urged news editors, publishers, and owners of media houses to appreciate and welcome the efforts of the Legislative arm of Government to partner with them to achieve development for the country.
The Rt. Honourable Speaker of Parliament made these comments when the Western Regional Executives of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) paid a courtesy call on him and also to thank him for his support to the Association over the years.
According to the Rt. Honourable Speaker, the efforts to bring on board editors and owners of media houses to understand that the role of the media to investigate, report, and speak for the people as the Fourth Estate of the realm is almost like Parliament’s function of representing the people.
“However, our efforts to see the Media Houses as partners in developing the country are rather seen as weakening the media’s capabilities of criticizing Parliament”
Rt. Honorable Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Honorable Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin further indicated that the support from any institution to the media including Parliament should not be considered as compromising the work of the media but rather enhancing their work.
He emphasized that such collaboration between the media and other state institutions such as the Parliament would go a long way to promote the development for the country.
The delegation was led by the Western Regional Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) President Mr Desmond Cudjoe.
Speaker Bagbin calls on Bimbilla Regent
Meanwhile, Speaker of Parliament, Honorable Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has led a parliamentary delegation to call on the Bimbilla regent, Yakubu Andani Dasana at his palace in Bimbilla.
The courtesy call is part of efforts by the Rt Honorable Speaker and his team to take Parliament to the doorsteps of Ghanaians, as Ghana celebrates 30 years of uninterrupted parliamentary democracy.
Speaker Bagbin, alluding to the ‘proverbial tongue and cheek’, who despite being in the ‘same mouth’, have disagreements, but still find ways of co-existing, urged the people to live in peace and harmony, and seek to enrich the lives of their people through development.
The Speaker, who traced part of his ancestry to Bimbilla, spoke about the importance of chieftaincy in Ghana’s governance architecture and pointed to the need to include traditional leaders in the governance system of the country.
However, welcoming the Speaker and his entourage to the palace and the region, the Bimbilla regent emphasized that, efforts were being made to develop the region through unity.
He also commended the speaker for his leadership in Parliament and indicated that the Speaker has been a shining example for many young people, particularly those in the northern part of the country.
As part of the commemoration of the thirty years of Parliamentary Democracy under the fourth republic, the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Alban Bagbin is speaking at a public forum at the GM Afeti Auditorium, Ho Technical University in the Volta Region on Friday, December 15 2023.
A mock Parliamentary sitting will also be held on Saturday at the Ho Nurses Training College to mark the celebrations in the region.
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