By Iddi Yire
Accra, July 17, GNA – Mr Cletus Apul Avoka, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Zebilla on Wednesday presided over the sitting of Parliament as Speaker pro Tempore.
Prior to Mr Avoka’s presiding over the House as Chair for the sitting, Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin had to leave the Chamber to attend another important national assignment.
Also, both the First Deputy Speaker Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu and the Second Deputy Speaker Mr Andrew Amoako Asiamah, were unavoidably absent, the lot fell on Mr Avoka, who was the senior most Member of the House in the Chamber.
Speaker Bagbin, subsequently appointed Mr Avoka to Chair the sitting of the House for the rest of the Day.
Order 12(4) of the Standing Orders of the House states that: “Whenever the Speaker, the First Deputy Speaker and the Second Deputy Speaker are unavoidably absent, the Clerk shall chair the sitting for the election of a member to preside at that sitting of the House as the Member Presiding.”
Mr Avoka upon assuming the Chair as Speaker pro Tempore, expressed gratitude to Speaker Bagbin and Members of the House for the Honour done him.
A Speaker pro Tempore is a senior member of Parliament, who is chosen to chair the sitting of the House in the absence of the Speaker and his Deputies.
In the history of Ghana’s Fourth Republican Constitution, other Members of the House, who have chaired a sitting of the House in the absence of the Speaker and his two Deputies, included Mr Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Sunyani East, and Mr Kobina Tahir Hammond, NPP MP for Adansi Asokwa.
GNA