A group of Ghanaians have urged the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, to ignore deviant partisan urchins who have recently decided to smudge him with wasteful allegations.

The group, responding to recent reports by pro-government media organizations that the Speaker has wasted over US$4million on travels so far, said that the attack is out of frustration with the Speaker for doing his job properly."

The sources of these publications are well-known - rented press of the ruling party which is now licking its wounds after the Hon. Speaker stepped his foot down and refused to allow a conspiracy of the Executive and the Judiciary to bully parliament into submission.

"We are not unaware that this attack is choreographed and co-ordinated, and is out of pain and anger over the failure to turn parliament into a puny punching bag because of the strong resolve of the Rt. Hon. Speaker. And so, we will advise the Speaker to ignore them."

The group's advice was captured in a statement that they released on Wednesday, October 13, 2024.

Led by respected political and civic activist from the Eastern Region, Mrs. Emelia Darkwah, who also signed the statement, the group also urged the Speaker to continue to be resolute."

The timeless principles that have served as the DNA of democratic statecraft in the Fourth Republic must not be thrown to the dogs and Speaker Bagbin's stand-up for the principle of the Separation of powers is only commendable," the statement added.

The statement is a swift one that came in the wake of reports by pro-NPP media that the Speaker has since, assuming the Speakership, traveled about 25 times outside of the country.

These travels, the reports mischievously said, have cost the taxpayer over US$4million with a trip to Dubai, a province in the United Arab Emirates alone, costing US$170,000.But the statement from the concerned Ghanaians rubbished these statistics as, "meaning nothing."

"Nowhere in these stories is it mentioned that the Rt. Hon. Speaker traveled to party in clubs or even chartered private jet like President Akufo-Addo did; the Speaker had to travel abroad for medical attention, and this was so because our health infrastructure in this country are not up to par."

These health oriented travels are duly sanctioned and included in the perks of office for the Speaker, so what do they achieve by writing these nebulous stories?" the statement asked.It accused the authors of hypocrisy, pointing out that, "Those who are keen to write about Bagbin's travels have had their eyes wide-shut when it comes to the travels of President Akufo-Addo who even chartered private jets for his jolification.

"It reiterated that, "the pro-government rented press, is only waging a proxy war against Speaker Bagbin because their government is bleeding from Bagbin's sagacious decision to adjourn parliament indefinitely in order to ensure that the Legislature does not descend into chaos."

Meanwhile, the statement urged the Speaker to, "forgive all these detractors and leave them to God."