Ghana’s 8th Parliament resumes sitting today

Ghana’s 8th Parliament of the Fourth Republic will today, January 15, 2021, sit for the first time following its inauguration on January 7, 2021.

Ahead of today’s sitting, the most topical discussion has been which of the two leading political parties- the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress- has a majority in the house.

The NDC though having agreed to sit on the left-hand side of the Speaker is insisting that no political party in the house has an absolute majority.

As of the time of filing this report, GhanaWeb had gathered that members of the NPP caucus arrived as early as 4:00 am in the house to occupy the seats meant for the majority.

The NPP caucus has insisted that they are the majority in Parliament with the Member of Parliament for Fomena officially writing to the Speaker of Parliament to indicate he will do business with them.

The NPP and NDC have an equal number of representations, 137 each.

Today’s sitting is expected to breed some drama if the events of the inauguration are anything to go by.

The election of Ghana’s 8th Parliament Speaker was characterised with chaos and violence. The election which was expected to last a few hours took over nine hours and eventually saw the NDC nominee, Alban Kingsford Bagbin winning against the NPP nominee, 7th Parliament Speaker Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye.