Five MPs appointed to Pan-African Parliament

Accra, Feb. 4, GNA- Parliament on Wednesday appointed five members to represent the house at the Pan African Parliament in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The five members were Mr. Abraham Ossei-Aidooh, Deputy Majority Leader, Alhaji Malik Al-Hassan Yakubu, NPP-Yendi, Mr. Andrews Adjei-Yeboah, NPP-Tano South, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, NDC - Bole and Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, NDC-Gomoa-West.

The appointment of the five MPs followed the adoption of a resolution moved by Majority Chief Whip, Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu based on Article 4(1) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which states that each member-State shall be represented in the Pan African Parliament by five Parliamentarians, at least one of whom shall be a woman.

He said Article 4(2) of the same Act, stated that the representation of each Parliament shall reflect the diversity of political opinion in the individual National Parliaments.

"Under Article 5(1) of the said Constitutive Act, the Pan African Parliamentarians shall be elected or designated by the respective National Parliaments of the member-states from among their members. Mr. David Apasera, PNC-Bolgatanga, noted that though the Article 4(2) of the Constitutive Act required that the representation reflected all political opinion in the respective Parliaments, "I do not think the selection or our representative reflects the diversity of political opinion in this House."

He said, "there are more than two political parties represented in this House but the selection of the five representatives was limited to only the major political parties."

The People's National Convention (PNC) has three seats in Parliament, which are Bolgatanga, West Mamprusi and Sissala, while the Convention People's Party (CPP) has just a seat at Ellembele occupied by the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Freddie Blay.

Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker of Parliament debunked Mr. Apasera's intervention, saying that the five were selected from majority and minority sides of the House, which was a reflection of all political representation in Parliament.

He explained that political party representation is reflected in only two categories, which were the majority and minority sides in Parliament and both sides were represented on the team being sent to the Pan African Parliament.

"Moreover the representatives of the smaller parties in Parliament could belong to either the majority or minority sides," he said. Mr. Ala Adjetey said the MPs appointed to the Pan African Parliament were not necessarily going to represent Ghana's concerns in that Parliament, but rather that of the whole of Africa.

"As members of the Pan African Parliament, their constituency is Africa and not Ghana - their duty is to make a case for Africa in the international community and not for Ghana in that Parliament," he advised.

The Speaker also noted that the mandated inclusion of at least one woman is not just for the fun of it, adding that the woman selected must be competent and up to the task, "and I have no doubts that we selected a qualified woman."

Alhaji Abubakari Sumani, NDC- Chogu-Tishigu, said the selection of Mrs. Benyiwa-Doe as the only woman on the team, gave credence to the fact that the NDC had more competent and capable women in the House.

Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu dismissed that claim saying that the selection of each member of the team was done after broad consultations and that there were several competent women to choose from, but most of the NPP women MPs had other responsibilities as Ministers of State.