FULL TEXT...Mike Oquaye�s Inaugural Address As Speaker Of 7th Parliament

Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye was today [Saturday], January 7, 2017, sworn-in as the speaker of the 7th Parliament of the 4th Republic by the Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood.

His nomination as speaker was met with no opposition from both sides of the divide.

In his acceptance speech, he pledged to create and maximize opportunities for all members of Parliament (MP) and called on old MPs to mentor the new ones.

He also bemoaned the low figures of female representation in Parliament.

Find the full speech below:

INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY RT. HON. PROF. MICHAEL AARON OQUAYE SPEAKER OF THE 7TH PARLIAMENT OF THE FOURTH REPUBLIC.

Introduction

Your Ladyship the Chief Justice, My Lords Spiritual and temporal, Hon. Members of Parliament-Elect, Your Excellencies, Nananom, Niimei, Naamei, Political Parties Representatives, Press Corp, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

In the first place I thank the Almighty God for the great favour He has reposed in me. I thank the entire leadership of my Party including the President-elect, the Vice President-elect and the MPs for their support. I also have to thank the Clerk of Parliament for guiding the House up to this time. His priceless guidance will further be valued in future.

It is a great honour to be nominated and elected as Speaker of this Honourable House. I see my presence here as a home-coming albeit with a greater responsibility. I am grateful to all who reposed resounding trust in me to make this possible. I pray to the Almighty God that I shall successfully travel the path pursued by various Speakers and begun by the legal luminary Rt. Hon. C.E. Quist also from my hometown Osu, Accra.

I wish to congratulate all of you Hon. Members for winning your seats. It is a unique opportunity to serve our dear nation. I look forward to maximizing the opportunities for every member to contribute. I trust the experienced ones will mentor the up-coming. Those who sit in front should please learn to look behind them to allow others to contribute and remember that whereas they cannot normally see from the back of their heads I have been placed on this platform so that everyone can catch my eye. I intend to be fair to all and therefore seek your understanding in advance.

I encourage new entrants to prepare and present statements on any issue of interest. Apply the Question Time well. Your brilliant visibility will affect your re-election. I will meet with leadership on this and seek support of the leading Think Tanks in Ghana to help you deliver. A comprehensive mentoring process is vital for improved performance.

I need to remind the new MPs that the highly procedural nature of Parliament calls for an equally high level of commitment to the rules and procedures of the institution. Serious learning will therefore have to be undertaken to sharpen your competencies in order to function optimally.

To the majority, let me remind you that we have a two-party Parliament heavily dominated by you. There is however the need to be guided by high ethical consideration so that we do not relapse into ultra majoritarianism, a symptom of the tyranny of the majority. We will encourage healthy debates. To the minority, even though most parliamentary business is organized on majoritarian principle, the time-honored rights of minority to open, frank, fair and honest debate so as to make your case and offer constructive alternatives will be respected under my stewardship. Both the majority and the minority must be guided by the mandate given to the government to build a vibrant society anchored on the principles of fairness and equality of opportunities.

The promotion of good governance requires a parliament that can effectively perform the three cardinal functions of representation, oversight regarding the executive and law making. Our ability to control public expenditure will be good service to our people.

Ghanaians everywhere are looking up to Parliament and government for the solutions to the problems that confront them on daily basis. It cannot be business as usual. Our people expect us to help fix the economy, provide jobs for the unemployed, improve access and quality of education, health care and generally give them hope.

This Parliament is for the people of Ghana and they want us to be honest accountable and responsive to their needs. I ask for cooperation from all and sundry to make our stewardship a success.

Challenges

The Fourth Republic Parliament has been seeking to re-establish its role as a key public institution. The challenges have been myriad. During the dark days after independence anytime a coup occurred, Parliament was dissolved while the Executive continued, even if in a different shape. This instability has affected the development of Parliament. When Parliament reconvened in 1993 after several years of military rule, for example, only one member had been an MP before. Hence institutional memory was negligible. Strides have since been made and we congratulate all those who have helped the process of restoration of the ideals, beliefs and values of Parliamentary democracy in the Fourth Republic. Nevertheless, a huge task still remains ahead of us and I trust we shall rise to the occasion.

Standing Orders

Parliament operates by Rules and Procedures called the ‘Standing Orders”. Incidentally, in Parliament itself, it is generally agreed that there is the need to revise the rules as a whole. Committees have been set up to revise these rules but for over a decade, the process has stalled. Sometimes proceedings become jerky in the House as leaders and members recall conflicting experiences from memory. I am committed to completing this lingering exercise and I will take this up with the leadership soon.

In this connection, there is another issue to tackle – rulings of Speakers in the past will be captured to serve as guidance and precedents for smooth operation of the House. The Indian example, is thorough, published together as “Rulings from the Chair”. I will make copies of the full series available so that we should have Ghanaian precedents well recorded for posterity. This is how institutions grow scientifically, systematically and with responsibility.

Private Members Bills

The controversy relating to private members bills should be resolved. It is tragic that currently, it appears to us that Members of Parliament cannot initiate legislation independent of the Executive. Article 108 of the Constitution provides that once a bill has financial implications, it can only be introduced by the Executive. The narrow view has been taken that every bill has financial implications including the paper on which it is printed and the Clerks who work on it who are paid by government. Hence only governments can initiate legislation. This should change. We learnt the practice from the UK Parliament. The principle was that the Commons would not give to the King/Queen, monies that the Crown had not asked for. But over the years the British Parliament has developed means of allowing private members to introduce legislation. Recent studies I have made show that there are a number of procedures whereby Private Members may initiate bills.

Certainly, the Executive cannot sit aside while Parliament alone passes laws which impose obligations which the Executive cannot meet.

We shall broaden our horizon in the lawmaking process to benefit our people.

If a Private Members Bill seeks to make a law that will tighten the strangle-hold on corruption, how can that per se be a charge on the public purse?

How will a law that protects our women, children and persons with disability better per se be a charge on public funds? I do not see how laws which protect our environment, improve upon our tax collection be inimical to the public purse?

Indeed if Parliament should introduce a law which will enhance the collection of revenue by the GRA, we shall be contributing to the public purse not a liability regarding same.

The introduction of Private Members Bills will release the best of the innermost capacities of Hon. Members, broaden the horizons of the Members and gain the respect of the populace.

Hon. Members, I challenge you to help improve our laws on elections. We have a lot to learn from others, including Kenya who learnt the hard way after brutal post-election civil war. To sanitize the system, they enacted “The Electoral Offences Act”. We should copy and improve upon it.

Let me give you few examples. Why should our law allow any two adults who are registered to vote, to stand in for a person whose age or nationality is in doubt? Why should just any two people be allowed to do this? If you do not stand in loco parentis, how do you tell the age of a person you hardly know? We shall define only a small category of persons who can give guarantee. They should swear to an affidavit verifying the truth and should be jailed for 5 years if caught in falsehood. Will this not be a deterrent? Those who steal ballot boxes, those found with ballot papers and who commit other electoral offences should be jailed for 5 years. This House can introduce such law to help save this Republic and that will not be a charge on the consolidated fund.

Committee System

The capacity and scope of the Committees of Parliament deserve attention. The Committee is the workshop of Parliament. When Committees are weak, Parliament is seriously dented. Bi-partisanship is the hallmark. Not only should Committees be sharp in their routine tasks, but also, they should exercise singular initiative in enquiring into all matters of public interest from Archaeology to Zoology. This inquisitorial power of Parliament will be applied to its logical conclusion. The Committees should be fully equipped to work.

The Committees are closely related to the powers of Parliament as a House of Inquisition. In England, in 2012, the Committee on Education in the House of Commons quickly sprang into action when poor Advanced level examination results rocked the nation. It was a pleasure to read the entire proceedings and the effect it had on the British System. Parliament can act proactively, responsively and with appropriate capacity on issues relating to health, education, agriculture, oil etc. This development should take place to enhance the capacity of the institution and good governance as a whole. It will enable Parliament to help in the fight against corruption and thereby protect the public purse. I urge Honourable Members that no work of CHRAJ, a Presidential Commission or others should estop Parliament in the exercise of its inquisitorial powers. Deference may only be given to cases pending before Courts of competent jurisdiction.

We should look forward to the day when Parliament as a House of Inquisition will develop capacity akin to a Senatorial Enquiry in the USA where every topmost state official can be summoned and questioned in the interest of the state. We can enhance our system and serve our people better.

Boycotts and Walkouts

These have become too fashionable in our system. I trust this House will develop systems of accommodation, tolerance and openness that will minimize this practice to the barest minimum. We should commission a study to document all such boycotts and walkouts; how long each lasted; reasons for staging them; and make an assessment of their impact on the growth and development of democracy in Ghana. Some recommendations on how to forestall such boycotts and walkouts as well as their management when they do occur, I believe would be sponsored by our partners in due course.

Record Keeping

Our library, record keeping process and related activities need modernization. Parliament today does not keep any record whatsoever of how individuals vote. This is in sharp contrast with the US system and other jurisdictions which have detailed record of all Senate voting. President Obama’s Voting Record became an issue and an asset in his victory. Both President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo and President Mahama, though very successful former MPs, had no such record to show in their presidential bid of 2012 and 2016. It would have been interesting and most useful to have such record. How did they vote on issues relating to gender, children, environment, rights of persons with disability etc? Such matters enhance the politics of issues and devalue the politics of vituperation.

The record-keeping system has several advantages:

Sharpens the responsibilities of individual members as they build a record for their future political career;
Makes legislators aware that they are being critically watched;
It highlights issues and makes MPs respond to specific issues;
It is an avenue towards promoting Private Members Bills in the Legislature;
It helps the assessment of MPs generally through specific data collection;
This is the Parliament that Ghanaians want to see as we enhance the parameters of democracy in our dear nation.