Month: March 2025

Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Bagbin has admonished lawmakers not to depend on the Executive arm of government to develop their constituencies.

In his address at the ongoing orientation for Members of Parliament in Ho, the Volta Region capital, he advised the MPs to rather go beyond the executives to solicit and mobilize resources to support their constituencies and themselves as there are many opportunities out there.

“I got all my outside travels in the first and second parliament of the fourth Republic from institutions outside Parliament. Because of the role I was playing, I was invited; they sponsor me to many international conferences”.

“And I learnt from them. It started as far back as 1994, I am a patron of a number of them and I assist them to mobilize resources any time they run out of budget, they send people to come and interview me as to the benefit and the need of it to such organizations.

“I do it for them to get funding, so do not struggle to catch the eye of the president; do all you can to catch the eye of the Speaker and that is not just a skill, it goes beyond that, you can always catch the eye of the Speaker”.

He assured the MPs that he would be cracking the whip this time around. “I would disapprove of your travels if I see you misbehaving; this is a notice, do not beg me, parliament is not just the corner stone of democracy, it is democracy; that is the only institution that is democratic”, he emphasized.

He said the Executive arm of government belongs to one party, and it is very difficult for them to reach out to all the citizens of the country, but parliament can easily do it; that is why I love this initiative from the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources about how to fight illegal mining because you are the people who can lead that crusade.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Bagbin has revealed that he received a WhatsApp message from the Minority that they would not be part of the ongoing orientation for Members of Parliament of the ninth Parliament in Ho because of issue of cost.

According to him the reason given by the Minority is unacceptable stating that choosing a venue for orientation has never been partisan. “There is always a search party that goes round to search for the appropriate venue at the right cost”.

Again, previously parliaments go to visit various hospitality facilities looking for good cost components suitable for MPs.

The Rt. Hon speaker further added that there is a lot of pressure on MPs that is also taken into consideration and before a decision is reached the search party moves round and brings a report to the Speaker for a decision to be taken.

He further explained and underscored the need to have Parliamentary staffs at the orientation, noting that since they assist MPs, there is the need to build their capacity too; otherwise they would not be in the position to assist MPs.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority in Ghana’s Parliament has boycotted the orientation of New Members of Parliament (MPs) currently being held in Ho, the Volta Regional capital.

As at the time of filling this story not a single soul of the Minority had appeared at the conference room.

In an interview with the Majority Chief Whip, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, he confirmed to Ghanamps.com that their colleagues in the Minority have indicated that they would not be part of the programme.

Minority Chief Whip Frank Annor Dompreh on Friday, February 28, 2025, indicated on the floor of the House that their side was not going to be part of the orientation, stating that as part of the cost saving strategy, the orientation should be done in Parliament House.

And added that when they were in the Majority in the 8th Parliament, there was public out cry over having such activities outside parliament; and questioned what has changed.

“We were not aware of the orientation until we heard of it on the floor of the House in the chamber”, he said.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Four Ministers have been programmed to attend to the House to answer twenty-three questions next week.

They are the Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulahi Jinapor, 6 questions ; Minister for Gender and Children Protection, Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, 3 questions; Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, 5 questions; Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, 5 questions; and Roads and Highways Minister, Kwame Governs Agbodza, 4 questions.

There are two urgent questions and twenty-one oral questions while Order 91 clause 2 makes provision for statement by the Ministers and Members of Parliament.

In a related development, the Second Deputy Speaker Andrew Asiamah has directed that the Minister of Energy and Green Transition should appear before the House on Tuesday, March 4, 2025 to outline measures the country is taking to have clean energy.

Debate on the Message of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) would start on Tuesday March 4, 2025.

Majority leader and Minority leaders would have forty minutes, other leaders would have twenty minutes and leadership of Committees would have fifteen minutes and MPs would have ten minutes.

The Business Committee could not reach consensus on the number of MPs to debate as the Minority insisted that the numbers should be equal from both sides while the Majority thinks otherwise, suggesting that it should be based on the numerical strength of each sides.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com