Bagbin Declines NHIS Board Chair Offer, Warns Against Blurring Parliamentary Lines
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has declined an invitation to chair the board of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIS), according to a GhanaWeb report published on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. The offer, reportedly extended by former President John Mahama, was respectfully rejected by the Speaker.
Bagbin stated that accepting such a position would blur the lines between Parliament and the Executive, a move he believes would contradict Ghana’s constitutional principles. “It is not right for MPs to hold positions within the Executive or on boards of public institutions,” he said, stressing the need for a clear division of responsibilities.
He expressed concern that such appointments undermine Parliament’s role as a watchdog over the Executive. MPs who accept them, he noted, could face conflicts of interest and lose credibility in their oversight duties—particularly when reviewing reports from institutions they are part of.
To reinforce his argument, Bagbin cited a past decision: in 2009, as Majority Leader, he declined a ministerial role to preserve his independence from the Executive.
While noting that others before him have accepted similar roles, Bagbin voiced concern over the ethics and practical implications of the practice. He questioned how one could submit a report to a minister and then preside over its debate in Parliament.
Bagbin closed by encouraging legislators to focus fully on their parliamentary obligations and resist accepting Executive appointments that compromise their core mandate.