By Iddi Yire
Accra, Jan 04, GNA – The Ninth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, will begin on the midnight of Tuesday, January 7.
The four-year term begins with the election of the Speaker and his two Deputies and the swearing-in of Members of Parliament.
The Members of Parliament-elect have been summoned for the First Meeting of the Ninth Parliament to elect The Speaker and the First and Second Deputy Speakers, on Tuesday, January 7, at five minutes after midnight.
Mr Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror, Acting Clerk to Parliament, in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency said: “Know ye all men that in the exercise of the Powers conferred on the Clerk to Parliament, I, Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror, Acting Clerk to Parliament, appointed under Article 124 of the Constitution and pursuant to Order 8(2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, do hereby appoint Parliament House, Accra, to be the place and five minutes past twelve midnight (12:05 a.m.) of Tuesday, the 7th day of January, 2025 to be the time when Parliament shall sit to elect a Speaker and Deputy Speakers and for the administration of Oaths to the Speaker and Members of the Ninth Parliament of the Fourth Republic”
In the absence of a Speaker and the two deputy presiding officers, the Clerk to Parliament will officiate at all official ceremonies preceeding the election of the Speaker and his or her two deputies.
The Eighth Parliament was a hung one. The New Patriotic Party(NPP) Caucus had to lure an Independent Member to give them the numerical advantage to become the majority In Parliament.
At the end of the 2020 election, both parties had 137 members each.
The 2024 election however gave the NDC an unprecedented majority in the Fourth Republic.
The NDC has 183 Members of Parliament elect, with some constituencies in contention.
An Accra High Court has ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to make official results in the four Constituencies namely, Techiman South, Tema Central, Ablekuma North and Okaikwei Central available on 6th January, just in time for the inauguration of the 9th Parliament.
If all the seats go to the NDC, it would have passed the 184 mark, which automatically makes the social democrats a two thirds Majority in Parliament.
A two thirds Majority will effectively give them a carte blanche to carry many Parliamentary motions without any form of help from the Minority.
If the four seats go to the New Patriotic Party, the new Minority, the 4 Independent Members, for the sake of pragmatism, will seek shelter under the Umbrella and help it leverage its overwhelming Majority to have its way.
The Ninth Parliament holds many exciting prospects for Ghana’s democracy only if the new Majority becames magnanimous but firm in the execution of its policies.
GNA