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Asawase MP Muntaka Mubarak said he spent around two weeks convincing members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to vote for Alban Bagbin as president of parliament.
He said if the former MP for Nadowli Kaleo were on their side, there was no guarantee that all party members would be happy with his nomination.
He told Emefa Apawu in Joy News’ The Probe Sunday that he spoke with MPs one-on-one for two weeks to convince them of why the House should have a speaker from another party and not of the government.
“We were trying to make them understand that it was in our national interest to have a President on the other side so that we could put control over the executive.
The two main parties clashed in parliament last Thursday during the inauguration of the 8th legislature.
The impasse provoked a military and police intervention in the House of Parliament.
Lawmakers were voting to choose the next speaker of parliament, but chaos reigned after ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmakers defied the secret ballot rule.
The ensuing clash lasted for several hours until the military and police intervened to restore order in the House.
After calm was restored, opposition MP and seasoned politician Alban Bagbin were elected president.
The veteran MP polled 138 votes to 136 of incumbent Aaron Mike Ocquaye, a non-voting MP.
Even then, Tema West MP Carlos Ahenkorah tried to spoil the election after snatching the ballots and grabbing them.
Mr. Bagbin goes down in history as the first president not to be chosen by the ruling party.
But it was not an easy road as NDC chief whip Muntaka Mubarak said he was testing his position to get members on his side to make the dream come true.
“And I spent almost two and a half weeks after the election trying to reach so many members not only from our side but also from the other side,” he said.
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