Category: General

The New Patriotic Party Minority Members of Parliament on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 in the afternoon took to the chamber during proceedings to demand government action against what they described as increasing violence in the country.

The MPs were seen singing in the chamber as a form of protest, expressing their concerns over post-election violence and other disturbances in various regions.

MPs were singing one of the country’s patriotic songs, “Yen Ara Asaase Ni” [This is our land] on the floor, urging the government to address what they referred to as widespread violence across the nation.

The protest comes after a recent incident in Obuasi, Ashanti Region, where clashes between military personnel and local youth resulted in the death of nine civilians.

The violence erupted when the military attempted to prevent the youth from entering one of the mining concessions of AngloGold Ashanti, one of the country’s largest gold mining companies.

In addition to the Obuasi incident, there have been reports of state institutions being targeted following the December 2024 elections.

The NPP MPs have condemned these acts as undemocratic and are calling on the President to take immediate action to put an end to the violence and ensure peace across the country.

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Parliament has approved the first batch of Ministers designate by President John Dramani Mahama following their successful vetting by the Appointments Committee.

The approval follows the Committee’s unanimous recommendation of John Jinapor, MP for Yapei-Kusawgu; Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam and Majority Leader;  and Dr Dominic Ayine, MP for Bolgatanga East, for ministerial positions.

Parliament debated the motion for the approval of the nominees on Tuesday, January 21, 2025.

The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, presided over the session as the House debated the approval of the nominees.

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The Greater Accra office of the Electoral Commission was besieged by some individuals disrupting the seventh attempt to re-collate the Ablekuma North constituency Parliamentary election result of 2024.

Some supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) damaged several louver blades at the EC’s office following the eruption of chaos at the office.

The EC is contemplating whether to continue with the re-collation of Ablekuma North parliamentary results following the invasion of the thugs at the centre.

The individuals claim the EC’s work is over, hence, the commission cannot carry on with any “dubious” exercise to declare the NPP candidate winner.

Currently, there is a legal tussle about the Ablekuma North election while the EC is also yet to re-collate results for some pink sheets.

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The Minority in parliament has registered their displeasure over happenings at the vetting of the first batch of three nominees of the President, John Dramani Mahama.

Dr. Gideon Boako, the Member of Parliament for Tano North who addressed the media on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 noted that the Majority side of the House exhibited behaviours at the vetting that were calculated to obstruct constructive and effective scrutiny of the nominees including the refusal to invite questions on the CVs as preliminary matters.

“The Chairman of the Appointments Committee was the first real obstacle to a diligent vetting of the ministerial nominees. He denied the Ghanaian people and the minority members of the committee the opportunity to conduct a thorough vetting of the nominees. He was protective of the nominees and extremely partisan.”

He thus noted that the altercation between the Minority side of the committee and the Chairman was a direct protest against his conduct. “Under the façade of a lack of capacity, he disregarded the fact that those he bullied were members of Parliament, and that the committee is a sub-body of the House. It cannot be right that members who are tasked by the Ghanaian people with oversight are denied the opportunity to scrutinize the nominees”, he added.

Dr. Gideon Boako asserts that the Chairman and the majority members of the Appointments Committee owe it to Ghana to assist them (Minority) in fulfilling the work entrusted to them by the Constitution; adding that, if the situation is not changed moving forward, they fear that an irreparable harm will be done to our democracy, with round pegs occupying square holes.”

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The Minority in parliament has challenged the legality of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) Committee sets up by the president in his quest to recover looted state resources, enforce accountability, and ensure good governance.

The Minority accused the Minister designate for Attorney General and Minister of Justice for justifying unconstitutional establishment, and putting together people who go about harassing former government officials.

Addressing the media in parliament, the Member of Parliament for Suame, John Darko said the Minority believes the establishment of the ORAL Committee violates or flies in the face of the constitution. “So one would have expected that a law professor in the person of Dr. Ayine would have condemned it; but rather he justified it”.

He asserts that the nominee’s justification of ORAL has put the work of the Police CID, EOCO, the Special Prosecutor and all constitutionally established bodies out of business.

According to him, no serious country will entertain anything such as this; adding that the development is concerning and they (Minority) want the people of Ghana to know.

He advised all ex-government officials to boycott any invitation by the ORAL team, saying, “We are not going to be part of it, because we believe that there are constitutionally established bodies that can investigate any so-called and misdeed of a government. What they are doing is to go about disturbing people, entering homes, taking vehicles, seizing vehicles, and more or less taking over lands from people who have genuinely purchased lands”.

He defended the actions of former appointees who have acquired properties saying “what the former government appointees have done is to acquire properties that legally they could acquire; no illegality has taken place”.

He also accused members of the new government of also buying state properties in the prime areas many years ago.

ORAL
The Operation-Recover-All-Loot (ORAL) is an initiative by President John Dramani Mahama in his quest to recover looted funds and public assets, punish perpetrators as well as make corruption unattractive to people especially government appointee.

On Wednesday, December 18, 2024, the president announced a five-member ORAL team to perform the following:

•Investigating Corruption Cases: Establishing a specialized task force to scrutinize suspected corruption cases under previous administration.

•Recovering Misappropriated State Resources: Prioritizing the retrieval of stolen state funds, property, and other assets for national development projects.

•Prosecuting Offenders: Committing to prosecuting individuals or entities found guilty of embezzling public resources, including members of the outgoing NPP government and serving as a deterrent to future offenders.

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The Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has urged first-time Members of Parliament (MPs) to take their four days orientation seriously, which will help them grasp the practices and conventions of the House as the 9th Parliament of the fourth Republic has started.

According to him it is important to provide the first-time MPs with the needed requisite skills through the workshop and training. He made these remarks on Saturday, January 11, 2025, in Parliament House when the House started its first batch of training for first timers.

The Effutu MP further pointed out that one will have disagreement with the Rt. Hon. Speaker who is presiding but admonished both government and opposition side of the House not to be antagonistic to the Speaker but rather manage whoever the Speaker is.

Again, do not look down on yourself and do not punch above your weight if you are to survive the hallow chamber, and urged the first-timers to tell themselves they will survive as MPs.

None of you should fear speaking his or her mind as the acting clerk has said; and in addition never get personal with your dealings on the floor of the House, respect colleagues, use language that is acceptable, and you will survive.

Also do not under rate staffs of Parliament if you are to survive as a lawmaker; you do that at your own cost. I survived in the chamber because I made them my friends. Do not think because of your privilege of being an MP you are above them, if you see their CVS you will be shocked. Some have three masters, some have PhD but they do not even use it, they are very experienced and will teach you how to survive in the chamber, he advised.

The Minority leader also entreated them to make the Hansard their friend; “look for it, read it, you will be heckled but once you refer to the Hansard, you will be good to go, refer to precedents of the House”.

“We should check ourselves in the chamber with the coming in of social media else our mistakes become the news”. He gave example of the funeral of the late president of the United States of America, where former President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump were chit-chatting. The international media instead of focusing on the funeral as news, the chit-chat became the news.

And your success depends on how well you know the standing Orders of the House, he concluded.

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The Acting clerk of Ghana’s Parliament Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror has told New Members in the 9th parliament who are undergoing a four day orientation to sharpen their skills as the task ahead is daunting.

According to him there is high public expectation of MPs to perform their functions and duties which to a large extent is not consistent with their core responsibilities as mandated by the constitution of the Republic.

In his welcome remarks, he pointed out the need to examine what has become the new normal role of expectation of constituents and the actual responsibility and roles of MPs. “Your representation, what is it, what is the nature of that role, and what is required of you under the constitution; adding that these may be diametrically opposed to the views and expectation of their constituents, and sometimes a section of the public.

And going through this training, the real role of the MP is one issue that will come up and dominate our discussions. In order to confront it and address the many expectations, it is important for the MPs to seek the requisite knowledge and skills on platforms such as this orientation and induction program, and short courses organize by the parliamentary training institute as well as coaching and mentoring by senior colleagues. When you do that, you will be able to balance your statutory duties and representational roles by articulating the concerns and addressing the needs of your constituents.

As part of educating your constituents and the public on the proper role of an MP, the parliamentary service board, under former Speaker Oquaye and current Speaker Bagbin restructure the communications division by having public engagements, media relations for the public to understand the role; and this education needs to be continued for it to register in the minds of Ghanaians that MPs have a specific role that they have to play; many other expectations will be a matter of appealing to the MPs, he said.

“We believe this is very critical to take off the pressure on MPs and the parliamentary service board under the leadership of the Speaker we will work with you in this direction”, he added.

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Former Member of Parliament for Wenchi West, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah has said in the 9th Parliament of the fourth Republic of Ghana, the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Majority has accepted that the views of the Minority matters.

According to him being in the Minority does not mean you do not love your nation and was happy with the process leading to the election of leadership of the House.

In an interview just after the inauguration of the 9th Parliament, and the selection of the Speakers, he noted that in the immediate past 8th Parliament, the importance of the Minority was not recognized; the NPP were thinking that if you are in the Minority nothing of yours counted.

So, in the decision process your ideas were discarded and were not taken serious. They only see something good when it was coming from them. For instance E-Levy brought about a lot of brouhaha; they themselves came out to say it’s not good, and promised to scrap it off when voted into power.

“When the E-levy was being passed, they knew what the then Minority NDC was saying was right, but because it was coming from the Minority, they did not want to work with it. We are not like that so if you look at the election that took place, when they were in the Majority, they did not want the second deputy speaker to come from us the NDC, they gave it to an independent candidate. We could have given the second deputy speaker to anyone of the independent MPs, but we did not do that looking at the fact that they are new.

And, if we do not give it to the NPP, we will not be helping the nation. That is why we gave it to Asiamah, the Fomena MP; he has worked in the House and we believe in his ability. The fact that he is not with us does not mean if we have his contribution we cannot use that to build this Nation, he added.

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Chairman of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Aseidu Nkiatia has taken a swipe at the Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo –Markin for suggesting that President John Dramani Mahama was wrong for recommending to NDC MPs-elect to select Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin as Speaker for the 9th Parliament.

According to him they will use their Majority in the current 9th Parliament to help build Ghana. “If you have this kind of Minority and you do not want us to work for the nation we will push you aside”, he stated when speaking after the inauguration of the 9th parliament and subsequent selection of the Speaker.

He said he was surprised at the argument being put forward by Afenyo-Markin with regards to the President’s letter to the MPs-elect, adding that Afenyo was pretending or intentional as though the practice was unheard off.

He noted that it is ironic that the NPP has no problem with a system that has a Minister for Parliamentary Affairs appointed by the president and goes to cabinet, same person doubles as the Majority leader in parliament, yet the same people are raising issues with a president-elect recommending the appointment of someone to the position of a Speaker.

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The 9th Parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana has been inaugurated.

In all 275 Members of Parliament elect out of the total 276 seats were inaugurated.

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin administered the oath of office to the MPs-elect shortly after he (Speaker) was also sworn in by the Chief Justice.

Earlier, the Clerk to Parliament, Ebenezer Djietro announced an injunction served on parliament and the Clerk of Parliament not to entertain the swearing in of the MP-elect for Akwatia, Ernest Yaw Kumi.

However, he chose to continue with the process and bear the consequences thereof hence his inclusion in the swearing in.

The Ablekuma North collation has still not been concluded and the Electoral Commission did not submit any name to parliament for swearing in, the clerk stated.

Leadership

Meanwhile, the House has also elected the full complement of the Speakers, thus the first and second deputy Speakers.

Bernard Ahiafor, the Akatsi North Member of Parliament was elected the 1st Deputy Speaker whereas the 2nd Deputy Speaker went to Andrew Asiamah, the Fomena Member of Parliament.

In effect, the NDC Majority has produced the Speaker and the 1st Deputy and the NPP settled for the 2nd Deputy.

Mr. Andrew Asiamah, like the Speaker Alban Bagbin, is having a second opportunity at his position having been the 2nd Deputy Speaker in the 8th Parliament as an independent Member of Parliament.

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