Doe Adjaho lacks the fatherly figure- Akomea

The Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party has described the incoming Speaker of Parliament Doe Adjaho as widely experienced in Parliamentary issues but lacks the fatherly figure attribute a speaker should have.

Nana Akomea also faulted the new Speaker of being too partisan on the few occasions he sat in for the substantive Speaker, Joyce Bamford Addo.

He made the comments on the MultiTV and Joy FM news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday.

His comments come after reports that the Ave-Avenor MP Doe Adjaho will be elevated to the position of Speaker in the sixth Parliament of the fourth Republic.

He was Deputy Speaker in the Parliament that was dissolved on Friday.

Addressing the issue of a new look Parliamentary leadership on Newsfile, Nana Akomea touted the credentials of Doe Adjaho as a very experienced leader in the house but said he is perceived as being too partisan on issues.

Chronicling the qualities and attributes of the previous Speakers, at least in the fourth Republic, Nana Akomea said since 1992, all the speakers appear elderly and had a father figure attribute which brought some veneration to the position.

He was quick to add though that Adjaho does not have that attribute and appeared to have too many of his contemporaries or his “class mates” in the House.

Deputy Majority Leader in the last Parliament Rashid Pelpuo who was also on the show, however disagreed.

He stated he is “excited to find such a man taking up the position.”

Pelpuo explained that Adjaho had challenges in the last Parliament having to debate in the House for the NDC and also sit in as Speaker when Joyce Bamford Addo was not around. That, he said led to the perception of bias.

He maintained that the Ave-Avenor MP will be the first Speaker to have been selected from the House.

He also dismissed Nana Akomea’s assertions that the Speaker must be necessarily old in order to perform well.