Stop Rewarding Insults in Politics – Speaker Bagbin to Party Leaders

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has challenged the leadership of Ghana’s political parties to stop elevating members who gain prominence through abusive and inflammatory language, warning that such practices breed a culture of insults in the country’s politics.

Alban Bagbin said political parties have a duty to shape the tone of public discourse by ensuring that recognition and advancement are not tied to the use of provocative rhetoric.

Speaking during Parliament’s emergency sitting in Accra on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, he observed that political disagreement need not be destructive, and urged party leaders to set a better example.

“I add this to both political parties’ leaders: don’t reward only bitter tongues,” Alban Bagbin said. “That is what I have observed up to date. That encourages others to copy that because that is how they will be recognised.”

The Speaker’s remarks come amid growing concern over the use of insults, threats and other forms of abusive language in Ghana’s political and social conversations.

He said Parliament must also look inward and examine the conduct of its members, stressing that leaders cannot simply preach moderation to citizens while failing to practise it themselves.

“Leadership in this matter cannot simply consist of asking citizens to moderate their language,” he said. “It requires those who occupy positions of public trust to demonstrate by their own conduct that political disagreements can be vigorous without becoming destructive.”

Alban Bagbin said the stability of Ghana’s democracy rests not only on institutions such as Parliament, the courts and the electoral system, but also on a political culture that allows citizens to disagree without treating opponents as enemies.

He warned that the cumulative effect of inflammatory language and conduct could deepen divisions and weaken the quality of democratic engagement.

“Our democracy is too valuable to be endangered by a political culture in which insults replace arguments, abuse replaces persuasion, and opponents are treated as enemies,” he said.

The Speaker called on political leaders to help reverse the trend and build a political culture founded on discipline, decency and substantive debate.