Parliament extends business

The emergency meeting underway in Parliament, scheduled to end on Friday, May 3, may be extended if the businesses arraigned by the Business Committee are not completed within the set timeline, the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, has hinted.

In his welcome address to the lawmakers in Parliament, Accra, yesterday, Speaker Oquaye urged the members to continue to serve with dedication and discharge their obligations timeously.

The House was recalled from recess last week to come and consider some serious businesses and was scheduled to end the meeting on Friday.

“In view of the very limited timeline set, let us use our time here judiciously by observing the commencement time for Plenary Sitting and presenting ourselves in the Chamber without recourse to a whip,” he admonished the lawmakers in his message.

To ensure the smooth discharge of work during the meeting, Speaker Oquaye assured that he would ensure adequate provision of resources required to deliver.

“The leadership is informed as a matter of urgency to reach out to me anytime as usual to alert me of any foreseeable challenge that may hinder progress of work,” he assured appealing to the Clerk of the House to be proactive “as always to ensure that the administrative machinery is well set for nothing but good result delivery.”

Whiles he expects maximum cooperation from leadership and Members to creditably discharge ‘our’ obligations “I hope the Executive will also cooperate with leadership by ensuring dispatch delivery of information to the House and its Committees.”

Speaker Oquaye also announced to the Plenary that while on recess, an agreement for the construction of a new ultra-modern chamber for Parliament was signed with the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

According to Speaker Oquaye, other areas of bilateral cooperation including manpower training in an array of subjects for Members of Parliament’s constituents.

Per a business statement read on the floor by the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the House is expected to pass the Company’s Bill, approve the Synohydro-related tax exemptions and waivers, and conclude consideration on the State Interest and Governance Authority Bill 2019.