Parliament will reconvene tomorrow to commence the first meeting of the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
A commencement instrument signed by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, appointed Parliament House, Accra, as the venue and 10 O’clock forenoon as the time for the first sitting of the meeting.
The recall is in line with Article 112 of the 1992 Republican Constitution.
During the 10-week meeting, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, would be expected to deliver a message on the State of the Nation pursuant to Article 67 of the Constitution.
“The President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before a dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament a message on the state of the nation”, the 1992 Constitution stipulates.
Also high on the agenda of the meeting would be the Debt Exchange Programme.
The Minority Caucus had called on the government to indefinitely suspend the debt exchange programme, which it said would impoverish Ghanaians.
Former caucus leader, Haruna Iddrisu, had told journalists, in Accra, on January 16, that it was in the interest of the government to suspend the programme and consult widely to secure an IMF bailout.
Another agenda of the meeting would be the vetting of new appointees to replace the ministers of Trade and Industry, Agriculture and Chieftaincy, who have resigned from the government.
The Auditor-General’s report on the COVID-19 expenditure would also feature prominently at the sitting.
The report cited various infractions in the utilisation of the US$2.5 billion realised by government in the fight against the pandemic.
Also before the House, would be the consideration of bills, including the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values 2021, which the Speaker has assured would be passed before the House is dissolved on January 6, 2025.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority Caucus is expected to show faces of new leadership, at the first meeting of the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament.
The NDC on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, replaced Haruna Iddrisu, MP for Tamale South, with Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, MP for Ajumako Enyan Esiam, as the new Minority Leader.
The Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi, MP for Ketu North, was replaced with MP for Ellembelle, Armah Kofi-Buah, while Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, MP for Asawase, was also replaced with Governs Kwame Agbodza, MP for Adaklu.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
