July 16, 2018

Speaker of Parliament Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye has indicated that to ensure that Members of Parliament do attend to business of the House, clocking-in system would be introduced in the House as a way of improving on attendance.

According to the Speaker it is a measure to ensure that Parliament discipline itself in other to be able to discipline others like you all know, “absolute power corrupts absolutely checks and balances a crucial”.

There must always be a watching process it does not mean to be against any group, must be universal so that our aim is high standards; it does not matter where the axe falls, it is very important because this is how the countries that have advanced that we envy made it, he said.

As to the reforms I talked about, we do not have a legal department in Parliament we have just decided at the board level to have one, it is left with us to fill the spaces, the Speaker said.

We are also working on the private members bill because that is the only way civil society can also contribute to the process of law making. When you look at our laws you notice there are a lot of gaps within and this is the way to also contribute, he said.

“I have had a meeting with Justice Crab who had gone all the way to Kenya to help their Parliament to establish a legislative drafting division, it allows you to receive suggestions from civil society whose suggestions enrich the process of governance”.

This came to light when Ghana’s Anti-Corruption Coalition group paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of Parliament.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com