The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has urged MPs seeking re-election to uphold integrity, warning that lawmakers who fail to do so risk losing the confidence of their constituents.
Speaking at the launch of the National Integrity Awards Scheme at the D.F. Annan Auditorium in Parliament on Monday, July 27, Mr Bagbin stressed the importance of ethical conduct in public office.
“MPs who want to contest again, you better imbibe integrity. If not, before you go, the Speaker has finished you in your constituency,” he said.
Mr Bagbin also underscored the need for the National Integrity Awards Scheme, an initiative aimed at promoting accountability and ethical leadership across Ghana’s public and private sectors, to be implemented fairly.
“This scheme must be administered with fairness, great care, responsibility and due regard to the law. Integrity must never become an excuse for arbitrariness. Accountability must be anchored in truth, justice, equity and due process,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Speaker cautioned Ghanaian parents against sending young children abroad for education, arguing that the practice weakens family bonds, diminishes patriotism, and erodes cultural ties.
He questioned the growing trend, suggesting such decisions carry long-term social and emotional consequences.
He noted that parents who believe they are securing a better future overseas may instead be depriving their children of essential community values.
“Many of you who rush your children abroad to study, I beg you, you don’t love your children,” he said.
Mr Bagbin argued that children spending their formative years outside Ghana often become detached from their families and homeland.
“Those you carry as babies and send there may not even come back for your funeral. They don’t know you, they don’t have any attachment, they don’t like your country, there is no patriotism there.”
He further expressed concern that children raised abroad miss out on Ghanaian communal traditions and family structures.
“They don’t know what a family is. Because over there, there is nothing like that,” he said.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
