The Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho has charged Members of Parliament (MPs) to attach importance to the second meeting of the fourth session of the Sixth Parliament since it is the major meeting before the November general elections.
The last meeting of the Sixth Parliament, which commenced yesterday, will coincide with the general elections which certainly will affect attendance and business of the House significantly.
Owing to this, the speaker appealed to the leadership to strictly abide by the time code for sittings.
He added that the MPs must be punctual and present to be able to deal with all scheduled business meant for the meeting.
“Honourable members I am impressed with your attendance on the first day of this meeting and I will urge you to continue with that till the end of the meeting,” he said.
When it is 10am and there is only one Member of Parliament (MP) present, I would go ahead with business, he indicated.
The Majority Leader, Alban Bagbin indicated that a number of important bills would be considered during the meeting and that MPs must fully participate in the consideration of those bills.
He mentioned particularly the Right To Information Bill which many Ghanaians are looking forward to and said that members must be involved in the consideration and passage of the bill before the meeting comes to a close.
He later told a section of the parliamentary press that the bill for the amendment to the parliamentary elections has not been brought to parliament yet.
The Speaker expressed the hope that the bill will come in time for it to be considered and passed to enable the Electoral Commission (EC) conduct the general elections on November 7.
On the first of sitting yesterday, the Public Private Partnership Bill (2016), Supplementary Appropriation Bill (2016), National Youth Scheme Bill (2016), Tertiary Education Research Fund Bill (2016) and the Public Holidays (Amendment) Bill (2016) were introduced in parliament for consideration and read for the first time.
A new loan facility of $80 million between the government and CAL Bank meant for the procurement of smart prepaid metres and accessories for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) was also tabled yesterday for consideration and approval.
The government also brought request for a waiver for stamp duty amounting to $10 million on a syndicated receivables-backed trade finance facility of $2 billion for the purchase of cocoa beans by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for the year 2016/2017 crop season.
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