GRi in Parliament 22 – 01 - 2003
His clerk and other senior staff
of the house also wore new gowns giving the Speaker's space a colourful look. It
is long, greyish with black finishing festooned with traditional symbols
including "gye nyame" depicting authority, grace, wisdom and divine guidance.
This time around, it had a cap
to match, typical of
“It reminds me of the old
The two statements echoed
through the decorated chamber which was bursting at its seams. Vice President
Aliu Mahama had paid a visit as it is constitutionally permissible.
The Minority had declared a
period of mourning to sympathise with Ghanaians for the recent hike in
petroleum prices so they wore red and black apparel. The Speaker's gown was not
the only new happening, the rest of the officials who perhaps did not make it
the gown maker's shop were clad a light shaded green "kaba and slit"
and shirt according to one's gender.
Five parliamentary delegations from
the sub-region, Diplomats, Military chiefs, Police and other security chiefs
graced the occasion with their colourful outfits that offered a still
kaleidoscope.
The panelled walls and the
scaffoldings which were draped with the national colours shone magnificently as
the lighting system fed it with its beams constantly. The day could have been
perfect had it not been the linguistic alienation that the parliamentary press
corps suffered.
Though, the twenty-five
correspondents could hardly speak or write French, no headphone was supplied to
them to grasp what the French-speaking guests had to say.
Bagbin hoped for the day when
Ghanaians would no longer vote for a vast majority in Parliament. But Papa prayed
for the sanctity of Parliament adding, “whatever the problems may be, we should
nurture Parliament.”
Adjetey had to reminisce and declare
his inner most feelings. “Mr Predecessor, Justice Francis Annan, said in 1994
that Parliament is here to stay. I am happy to say I share in that faith-an abiding
reality."
He still had his gown on after
closing the day and as he joined the procession led by the Marshall, mace
bearer, members stared hard at him because he personified authority, tradition,
antiquity and modernity.
There is a new challenge to the
popularity of the man whose intelligence and authority is so overwhelming and
it is the gown made for him on his first day in the third Parliament of the
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Accra (Greater Accra) 22 January
2003- The Speaker of Parliament, Peter Ala Adjetey on Tuesday said Parliament
would remain committed to the promotion of the fundamental human rights and
freedoms enshrined in the constitution for the establishment of a just and free
society.
He said “in the years to come,
we in Parliament as the representatives of the people in whom sovereignty resides
will continue to keep ablaze our commitment to the realization of the ideals of
democracy and to rededicate ourselves to freedom and justice.”
Adjetey said this in an address
at the ceremonial opening of the Third Session of the Third Parliament of the
Adjetey said in the course of
the period, two important bills were presented and duly passed by the House. These
were the bill that decriminalized libel and thus created an atmosphere of
freedom for journalist and the media as well as the National Reconciliation
Commission Bill that was fiercely debated at the consideration stage and passed
with a few amendments.
He said in the past year,
Parliament thoroughly debated an array of domestic and foreign policy issues
upon substantive motions moved in the House. A number of significant
International Conventions and treaties were also ratified, including the
Protocol on democracy and Good governance that was supplementary to the
protocol relating to the mechanism for conflict prevention, resolution, peace-
keeping and security and the Kyoto protocol to the convention on Climatic
change.
Adjetey said that in line with the
foreign policy objectives of the country, the House ratified three Conventions
against international terrorism. These were the OAU Conventions on the
Prevention and Combating Terrorism, International Convention for the Suppression
of the Financing of Terrorism and the International convention for the
Suppression of terrorism Bombings.
The Speaker said to complement
the development agenda of the Government, the House also ratified a number of
credit agreements and the agreement that attracted the most extensive public
attention scrutiny was the loan agreement between the Government and the International
Finance Consortium.
Adjetey noted that since the mechanism
of asking parliamentary questions was extremely useful in exposing wrongdoing
or mal-administration by public officials, Ministers should resist the
temptation of playing a "cat and mouse" game with evasive answers and
questions asked of them in the House.
The Speaker recalled a statement
made by the Minority Leader on privileges, Immunities and the law on contempt
of Parliament saying it opened an opportunity for the house to draw public
attention to the special rights of members including the speaker and staff of
the Parliamentary Service.
It also enabled the House to
fashion out the scope, limitations and application of privileges of the House
for the guidance of the Executive and the general public in their dealings with
the Speaker, Members and Officers of parliament.
The Speaker said last year, the
Parliamentary Service board took far-reaching decisions that should put the
service in a better shape by embarking on the development of new policy
guidelines for the various functional areas of the service, a scheme of service
and work plans for the national Governance programme.
Adjetey acknowledged the vital
and effective role that the Parliamentary Press Corps has played as a channel
of communication and interaction with the general public adding that such
commentaries and editorials have had varying degrees of influence on
legislation and policies.
The Speaker said the House
approved the President's requests for the imposition of a State of
The House also sent fact-finding
delegations and emissaries to the area to ascertain the situation and to contribute
to efforts to resolve the conflict and restore peace and security to the people
of Dagbon, he added.
The Minority Leader, Alban
Bagbin in an address said the cordial relations, especially between the
leadership of the House has resulted in the taking of collective decisions in
the interest of the country.
He said the Minority was ever
prepared to play its expected role in ensuring the rule of law prevails and
prepared to ensure democratic governance in the country but it would not be a “rubber
stamp” to any frivolous decision or action by the executive.
Bagbin said it was necessary
that the electorate ensured that no particular party had more elected members
of parliament since that would bring about the majority side over-riding and
unduly dictating decisions of the country without regard to other opinions.
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“Government recognises the
important role Parliament plays in development of the people and would always collaborate
with it to ensure a better standard of living for the ordinary person.”
Papa Owusu Ankoma was making
remarks during the opening of the third session of the third Parliament of the
“Whatever the problems are, it
is better to nurture Parliament than to rule through the barrel of the gun.” He
said the Presidency had cause to lay a number of bills to hasten the progress
of the private sector.
The Leader mentioned the Patent,
Trade Mark and Copyright bills as potential instruments for the nurturing and
protection of creativity. On the Freedom of Information Bill slated for the
session, he said, it would help in the dissemination of vital information
needed for development. “These bills and others are to give Ghanaian dividends
in democracy that would bring about positive change in their lives.”
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