<<Print>>

The speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho, has welcomed Members of Parliament (MPs) back to the House with a call on them to discharge their functions as law makers in a way that will restore hope to Ghanaians. The members of parliament resumed sittings yesterday, after almost three months of vacation. According to the Speaker, yesterday�s sitting, which was also the third meeting of the First Session of the Sixth Parliament would be �a hectic one�, because the President would, through the Minister for Finance, submit before the House the economic policy statement and financial proposals (budget) for the year ending 31 December, 2013. �I, therefore, urge all of you to put in your maximum effort, in our quest to discharge our functions as a House effectively and efficiently, and thus, give hope to our Ghanaian people,� he said. In view of that, Doe Adjaho called on the members to support him and the leadership with maximum cooperation to steer the affairs of the House, and enable them expeditiously complete businesses that would be brought before them. He also used the opportunity to apologise to the law makers for the inability to renovate the chamber and make it more spacious, as promised before they went on vacation. The Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, on his part, urged his colleague members to participate and do diligent scrutiny on the budget statement, to ensure that the financial statement addressed the current �not too good economy.� Doing so, he continued, would go a long way to bring to an end the plight of ordinary Ghanaians and the economic hardship they were going through. He lamented that the calendar of their meeting would not give the law makers time to properly scrutinize the financial statement. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu charged members of the Parliamentary Press Corps to be circumspect and report on substance that would benefit the ordinary Ghanaians. On his part the Deputy Majority Leader, Alfred Agbesi, welcomed members, and said they should bear in mind that it was a call to duty. �Members have had a good rest, and must work for the interest of Ghanaians.� He further called for security to enable the MPs do their work properly. Earlier, the Speaker of Parliament announced that His Excellency, President Dramani Mahama, had travelled out of the country to Sweden, attending the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization and is expected to return on 3 November, 2013.