Parliament adjourns sine die, expected to be back October

Parliament on Thursday night adjourned sine die, likely to resume in the third week of October in good times.

The adjournment was after nine weeks of sitting during the Second Meeting of the third Session, of the Eigth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.

Speaker Alban Bagbin, at the closing ceremony, wished the lawmakers well.

Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassan, First Deputy Majority Whip and New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso West Wuogon, and Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Deputy Minority Leader, and National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembele, gave accounts of their legislative performance during the period.

Madam Alhassan expressed her ultimate appreciation to God Almighty for his loving kindness onto the House throughout the meeting and thanked God for his love, grace and strengthen granted them to perform their constitutional duties.

She said in total, the House held 33 Sittings within the nine-week period.

Highlighting on some of the businesses transacted by the House during the Meeting, Madam Alhassan said the Ghana Accreditation Service Bill, 2023; and the Narcotics Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023 were presented to the House and were referred to the appropriate Committees.

She said within the period, the House debated, amended, and passed Eight Bills into law – Ghana Accreditation Service Bill, 2023; Narcotics Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023; Contracts (Amendment) Bill, 2022; and the Whistle Blower (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

Others were the Criminal Offences (Amendment), Bill, 2022, which seeks to abolish the Death Penalty; the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to proscribe witchcraft accusation; and the Armed Forces (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to replace the Death Penalty with life imprisonment.

The rest were the Wildlife Resources Management Bill, 2022 and the Ghana Commission for UNESCO Bill, 2022.

On his part, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Deputy Minority Leader, and National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembele, expressed gratitude to God for a successful end of the Second Meeting of the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.

He said during the period, the cooperation of the two sides of the House had been good; stating that the cooperation of the two sides of the House ensured the passage of eight bills, three of which were private member’s bills.

He reiterated that it was the first time that the House was able to pass three Private Member’s Bills

He commended the Speaker for his leadership and direction; saying, “We are only in the third Session of this Parliament, I am sure a lot more of such Bills will be passed before the dissolution of the House”.

Mr Buah also commended Mr Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina for introducing the three Private Member’s Bills and for being able to convince the House to back him.

He mentioned that at the beginning of the week, the House also inaugurated the Citizen’s Buraeu of Parliament as part of the efforts to strengthen in facilitating engagements and information sharing between Parliament and Civil Society.