News:
June 15, 2011
The Minority Leader of Parliament, Hon Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has asked for a clear departure from the practice of electing the Speaker of Parliament from outside the House.
Article 95 (1) of the constitution of Ghana provides that there shall be a Speaker of Parliament who shall be elected by the Members of Parliament from amongst persons who are Members of Parliament or who are qualified to be elected as Members of Parliament.
Since Ghana’s return to constitutional rule, no Member of Parliament has been elected Speaker.
According to Hon Kyei Mensah Bonsu, the current trend of electing Speakers outside the house has not helped Parliament to grow.
The Suame MP noted that the nation’s constitution must be reviewed to state that only Members of Parliament must qualify to seek election of the post of the Speaker of the House.
“The time has come for electing a speaker from parliament. Some people will not agree but I think that is the path to tread”.
The Minority Leader, also called on the Constitution Review Commission to make a firm recommendation, for a strict separation of powers to help Parliament grow.
“If we want to have a strong parliament, then lets decouple the Legislature from the Executive so that Parliament will be positioned to really oversight the executive.
“If your party is in government the situation is even worse, which explains why even in constituting the leadership of the caucus the executive will still want to have a say. This happened during the NDC I, it happened during the eight years of the NPP and NDC 2 it is still happening. Is that the way to build our democracy?”.
Source: citifmonline.com