Gov’t bringing back shelved legislation in dying days of parliament – Okudzeto Ablakwa

Samuel Okudzeta Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Samuel Okudzeta Ablakwa, the MP for North Tongu, has indicated that the Akufo-Addo administration was introducing into the dying embers of Parliament “obnoxious pieces of legislation” which were shelved because of the December 7 elections.

According to him, the current administration is doing that because it has realised that it does not have the numbers to pursue those “unpopular bills in the eighth Parliament”.

“It seems to me that most of the obnoxious pieces of legislation which faced strong resistance from the general public and which the government assured had been shelved going into the December 7 elections are now being brought back to Parliament during [these] dying days of the 7th Parliament and especially as the government sees that it does not have the numbers to pursue these unpopular bills in the eighth Parliament,” Okudzeto Ablakwa posted on his Twitter handle.

He cited the Public Universities Bill and the Pre-Tertiary Education Bill as some examples, but added: “others are on their way in the Energy and Finance sectors”.

Okudjeto Ablakwa advised the public not to lose focus on the people’s representatives in the Parliament of Ghana.

“We must brace up for the next few days and keep our focus also on Parliament else we would have none but ourselves to blame. The resistance must get stronger and bolder!”

The Public Universities Bill seeks to harmonize the finances, administration, and governance structure of public universities in Ghana.

The Public Universities Bill when passed, will give the government of Ghana the power to appoint the majority of the members of the University Councils of public universities.

The University Councils will then have the power to appoint and dismiss public university officials.

The Public Universities Bill will give the president the power to dissolve the University Council. The University Councils will now have the power to appoint chancellors.

The University Council will be able to control the finances of the public universities and determine the allocation of funds.

In addition to this, there will be a proposal to rename four public universities after various personalities.