Parliament hastens business before March 12

Accra, Mar. 9, GNA- The Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey, on Tuesday started managing time effectively on members as a way of ensuring that much of the work in Parliament was done before the House rises on Friday March 12, 2004.

According to the Parliamentary calendar for this session, the House was originally scheduled to rise on March 26, 2004, but due to the forthcoming registration exercise, slated for March 16 to 29, 2004, the House will rise early to enable Members of Parliament to take active part in the exercise.

The Speaker, in his bid to ensure that the House made good use of the three days left for the House to rise, has resorted to measures aimed at managing time effectively, apparently to maximize the limited time available to the House to approve several motions and resolutions on the 2004 budgetary estimates and on loans among other things.

The Speaker often allotted one minute to each member to make contributions to debates on the floor of the House.

"You have just one minute", Mr. Ala Adjetey would often say to a member who has the floor to make a contribution.

Mr. Ala Adjetey also allowed a limited number of contributions per motion, after which he asked all other members on their feet to catch his eye, to resume their seats.

He also insisted that ministers who moved motions on the floor of the House and members who seconded the motions were brief.

As a result of the Speaker's insistence, committee chairmen who presented committee reports to second motions, only read portions of the observations, recommendations and conclusions of their respective reports.

Meanwhile the House continues to hold two separate sections and sometimes close as late as 1900 hours.