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Speaker is doing well by applying the rules—Deputy Opposition Leader

The Deputy Opposition Leader in the Eight (8) Parliament Dr. James Kluste Avedzi has said the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin after the first day of the first session of the Eight (8) Parliament is doing well by applying the rules of the House.

According to him the Speaker has not turned against the Opposition NDC in the House as some journalists would want Ghanaians to believe. He has so far applied the rules that governs the House.

“If those rules go in favour of us, no one should complain, same way if it goes in the favor of the ruling government party in the House, no one should complain”, he said whiles addressing the media on Friday, January 15, 2021.

He noted that the Speaker has been in the House for a long time and he believes he would apply the rules which should govern the House.

When questioned on the issue of how the Committee members would be shared on the various Committees in the House, he noted that, “we have to share members on fifty to fifty bases, and where we have odd numbers it would be thirteen for NPP and twelve for NDC.

Again with the thirteen (13) to twelve (12) ratio, the ruling government would do that for two years and the opposition would also take over for two years, “that is what our side want to see”.

He was quick to point out that for Committees like Finance, Defense and Foreign Affairs, they should be chaired by the governing party in Parliament, as the opposition party chairs the Public Account Committee, Government Assurance Committee and Subsidiary Legislation Committee

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

No NPP Speaker or NDC Speaker – Bagbin

The Speaker of the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic, Alban Bagbin has assured the august House that he will be fair and impartial in the discharge of his duties in his new role.

“I intend to live by the Oath I swore on the occasion of my election to this office, to respect, obey, and abide by the will of the House. I am fully committed to being fair and impartial. But I am also fully committed to being firm,” he stated.

Addressing the second sitting of the 8th parliament, Mr. Bagbin reiterated that there is no NPP Speaker or NDC Speaker; there is only a Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana.

“While past practice might lead some to think otherwise, the truth of the matter is that the Speakership is not a partisan-political office. Regardless of which party nominated or voted to elect him or her, and regardless of his or her previous political background, the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana occupies a nonpartisan, impartial office.”

Adding that the independence and impartiality of the Speaker is particularly evident from one line in the Speaker’s Oath, which cannot be found in the Presidential Oath, the Oath of Vice-President, the Oath for Ministers of State and Cabinet, or the Oath of a Member of Parliament; and reads: “And I will do right to all manner of persons in accordance with the Constitution and the laws and conventions of Parliament without fear or favor, affection or ill will.”

The speaker called on members to be respectful, and abide by his rulings and instructions. “When in disagreement, the Standing Orders of the House, has the answer. I will apply the authority of the House as symbolized by the Mace, to protect and defend the prerogatives, privileges, and immunities of Parliament, members, and staff as provided under the laws of the country”, he assured.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

Speaker declares NPP with Fomena seat as majority group

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin on Friday, 15 January, 2020 confirmed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus as the Majority group in Parliament.
Following a letter he received from the Independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Fomena, Andrew Asiamah Amoako.
The Fomena MP indicated in his letter to the Speaker, which was read out to the House, that he would do business with the NPP.
Speaker Bagbin noted that the outcome of the December polls in which the people denied both parties a single party control of the legislative branch is a call to chart a new path in the conduct of the business of Parliament.
He said, “the people of Ghana sent a loud and clear message to the political class when they voted to deny both the New Patriotic Party NPP for short and the National Democratic Congress, NDC single party control of the legislative branch.


“The score of 137 for NPP and 137 for NDC with 1 independent, the decision of no majority party and no minority party in parliament, is a call for us to chart a new path to embark on new ways of transacting Parliamentary business.”
Mr Bagbin however urged both sides of the house to work on any challenges that might prevent the smooth running of business during proceedings.
“I urge the leadership of both sides of the house to put their heads together to smoothen out any bottlenecks or challenges that may impede the conduct of business in the house. I am ever ready to assist in this direction.”
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Stalemate in parliament over majority/minority caucus

 

The jubilation from the New Patriotic Party caucus that greeted the declaration of the New Patriotic Party and the Independent Formena Member of Parliament as the Majority group on the first sitting of the 8th Parliament on Friday, January 15, 2021 was short-lived with further explanations from the Speaker.

The NPP caucus was seen in a jubilant mood with many of them waving white handkerchiefs to signify victory when the Speaker made the announcement.

However, before proceedings came to a halt for the day, Haruna Iddrisu, leader of the National Democratic Congress called the attention of the Speaker to clarify his position on his declaration with both parties having the same numerical strength.

This, the speaker clarified saying, “I haven’t said that the NPP has a majority in Parliament, I said with the Association of the independent candidate, they have a majority group. No part has a majority in Parliament.

He assured the house that time will tell and bring clarity to which side has the majority in the house, as some MPs would have to wait to know their full status with the cases at the courts.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

NPP caucus storms chamber as early as 4:00am today

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus in the Eight (8) Parliament on Friday, January 15, 2021 got to the chamber as early as four (4:00am) to occupy the Speakers right-hand side which is known as the Majority side of the House.

In an interview with NPP caucus’ first Deputy Whip, Lydia Seyram Alhassan noted that they decided to start business in the House today early since today is the first day and they need to have their own meetings.


When questioned as to why her said was not coming to the House early in the last Parliament, she noted that this is the Eight (8) Parliament and Ghanaians would see a lot of changes when it comes to the way MPs attach seriousness to the business of the House.

She further denied that it was what happened at the election of the Speaker, where the NDC caucus occupied the right hand side of the Speaker, that informed her sides action.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Parliament won’t be a ‘rubber stamp” or obstructive body – Speaker

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has assured that the 8th Parliament would live to the true and core mandate and mission of Parliament.
He warned that he will not yield to pressure from any group or individual to make Parliament a ‘rubber stamp’ or obstructive body.
“As the foremost accountability institution in our constitutional system, Parliament’s role is to check-and-balance the Executive, not to obstruct or rubber stamp the Executive’s agenda. Parliament does its job, as it must, when it questions, investigates, reviews, and scrutinizes the Executive, its bills, its nominations, and its proposed agreements, and then proceeds to approve, to amend, or to reject them, as the case may be.”
Addressing the first sitting of the 8th Parliament on Friday, the speaker noted that there appears to be some amount of confusion and misunderstanding as to what the appropriate role of Parliament is in our constitutional system, particularly because of the winner-take-all politics.


That is to say that whenever Parliament is dominated by the same party that holds the Presidency and forms the Government, the common perception and expectation is that Parliament will automatically support the Government’s agenda, without regard to its merits, simply put, ” Government is entitled to have its way in Parliament.”
As such the current situation when neither of the parties has a majority nor minority in parliament is creating some uncertainty among the public with regards to their works.
However, “regardless of which party has the upper hand in the House, it would be wrong to see Parliament’s role as either obstructing or rubberstamping Government’s agenda. Parliament cannot discharge any one of its core mandates–deliberative, legislative, financial control, oversight, and representational–by being either obstructionist or a rubber stamp”, the Speaker noted.
The Speaker cited instances in the first parliament of the 4th Republic when Parliament played its role precisely despite not having a real opposition party. “Bills proposed by the Executive were not accorded routine, rubber-stamp treatment; they were subjected to close review, scrutiny, and modification, where necessary. A case in point is the bill that later became the law criminalizing “Causing Financial Loss to the State.” When it was introduced in the First Parliament, the bill as drafted had no “mens rea” requirement; it would have made “causing financial loss to the State” a strict liability offence. I recall, and the Hansard record will show, that the amendment to add the word “willfully” to the law came from the floor of the House.”
And added that with its almost total control of the House, the dominant Party at the time could have simply rubber-stamped the bill; but it did not.
Dominic Shirimori/Ghanadistricts.com

Parliament to conclude debate on Mid-Year review today

Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has indicated that debate on the Mid-Year budget review which started this week would end today Thursday the 26th of July 2018.

According to the Leader of Government Business, he and the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu would conclude on the debate today to enable the House approve the appropriation to legitimize spending.

He further added that at the beginning of the second meeting of the second session of the seventh Parliament of the fourth Republic, agenda for the entire year was presented so that the media would be able to track and follow and note those that had been accomplished in the course of the year.

A number of Bills have been introduced and passed, Legal Aid Commission Bill at third reading, the Right to Information Bill is at the consideration stage and we hope to pass the Minerals Amendment Bill which would raise funds for government.

He again indicated that the House is likely to be recalled when it goes on recess this Saturday, because there are some Bills that are of urgent nature but might not be concluded before the House goes on recess.

Member of Parliament from Adaklu who represented the Minority Leader said, at the beginning of the meeting MPs saw the agenda and notice there is a lot of work to be done, “we need to be diligent and critical with the bills that are before us”.

And lamented over Parliament not starting on time and again the House not being able to get the required number on the floor because of lateness.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

“We don’t have difficulty sitting on the left of the Speaker” —Haruna

Leader of the Opposition party in the 8th Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu has said his side does not have any difficulty sitting on the left side of the Speaker of the House in a wake of the House having its first meeting on Friday, January 15, 2021.

According to him what happened during the election of the Speaker, all they wanted to put across was that their numerical strengthen is respected in the composition of Committees and the determination of Leadership of the Select Committees.

“We will continue to use legitimate and constitutional means to get our lawful Majority side; media let Ghanaians know that the NDC 137 do not have difficulties sitting on the right hand side of the Speaker”, he stated.


Addressing the media on Thursday, January 14, 2021 he pointed out that his side has commenced work to ensure that two of their seats stolen from them Techiman South and Sefwi-Wiawso are taken back.

In addition, he revealed that the House has no choice but to work with the current Standing Order, as it did not contemplate of having a hanging Parliament where the two dominant political parties would have 137 seats each.

Again, as work on the Standing Orders were started in the Seventh Parliament, the current 8th Parliament would have to review and reform the Standing Orders, “this is the time and fine hour for us to have a New Standing Orders to respond to this unknown challenges the current Parliament is having”.

Mr. Iddrisu further told the media at the press conference that the practice where one side is made to chair all the Select Committees is no longer acceptable under the current dispensation.

“We the Leadership of both sides, we have been discussing with the Speaker, the NPP should chair eight of the Select Committee and the NDC opposition chairs eight”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

COVID-1Community court invests $345,126 in technology to remain operational — President

President of the Community Court of Justice, Justice Edward Amoako Asante has said the institution had to invest significant portion of its resources in virtual technology with the first virtual session of the court held on Monday, June 22, 2020 due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

According to him the initial disruption on the conduct of the court session affected sixty cases which had been scheduled for both hearing and judgment. It was imperative to migrate to virtual technology infrastructure in other to continue discharging their roles, he added.

And as part of the process for deploying the virtual technology, the Court had to align its Practice Direction with the new reality with the concomitant benefits of ensuring the safety of judges and staff.
In his goodwill message to the Second Extra Ordinary Session of the Community Parliament, he noted that although fallout of a pandemic, the deployment of the technology and the new practice direction had other benefits.

They had uninterrupted Court sessions and Court related operations despite the outbreak of Covid-19 Pandemic; improvement in turnaround time for Court hearings; general improvement in the management of case files; recording of sittings and the speedy delivery of judgments.


This project enabled the Court to fully function in 2020 despite the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It helped saved legal costs consisting of travel air tickets of litigants, agents, lawyers and witnesses as well as logistics and hotel costs. Benefits of no personal contacts between the bench and the lawyers, agent’s litigants and witnesses with the attendant infectious risks.

President of the Community court further added that, the court undertook training of judges and key staff members, and invested three hundred and forty-five thousand one hundred and twenty-six dollars in the purchase and installation of video conference equipment, fourteen laptops and accessories including servers, routers, switches, backup solutions, wireless access point, installation of SOPHO S Firewall and anti-virus solutions, Microsoft 365 used by all ECOWAS intuitions and increased internet bandwidth.

One of the implications of the deployment of this technology was that the effective functioning of the Court was dependent of the quantum and quality of the IT support staff. Until recently, the Court had to rely on contract staff to provide the IT support for its activities whose appointments have thankfully been regularized.

However, leveraging the full potentials of the technology for the benefit of the Court, Member States and Community citizens will require reinforcing the inadequate IT capacity of the Court for the effective management of the substantial Community investment in the virtual technology infrastructure.

Since this session of Parliament is dedicated to among other things, the consideration of the budget of the Community as approved by the last Administration and Finance Commission meeting, “I am constrained to seek the understanding and support of our valued parliamentarians to the proposal by the Court to address this deficiency”, he stated.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

NPP MP involves in accident

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Sehwi Akontombra, Alex Djornuboah Tetteh escaped death on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 when his car was involved in an accident.

The accident is said to have happened on the Bibiani road when he was returning from an inaugural ceremony at Manukrom.


The Sehwi Akontombra Constituency Secretary, Addo Harry, confirming the incident said upon getting to Mines Junction, an incoming Toyota Camry car made a forced turn.

The driver of the MP realised there were tricycles on the opposite lane and veering off would cause casualties to and therefore plunged the car into the bush.No casualties were recorded.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com