The Speaker of the 8th Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin, has urged members of the legislature to brace up for long sitting hours as the House prepare to consider numerous bills.
In his open address on first day of resumption from a 12-week recess, the Speaker charged the MPs to attend upon the House and be present in order to carry out the duties for which they have been elected.
“This meeting promises to be very busy. Apart from seeing to an early passage of the new Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana, the House is expected to consider and pass into law a number of important Bills, that is why we must at all material moments be present. The people that you are representing, have given you the mandate for a purpose. You must represent them well.” he said.
Parliament is set to consider and pass many bills during its sitting. Some of these bills include the Petroleum Revenue Management Amendment Bill 2021, the Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2021, and the Exemptions Bill 2021. Others include number of Private Members Bill, as well as presentation of the ‘all-important’ Affirmative Action Bill.
According to Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin, the nature of the work ahead of the Parliament, requires that the MPs work extra hard to meet the target. He also took his time to warned Members of lateness and loitering during sitting hours.
Informing the House on the Affirmative Bill, the Speaker reckoned that the bill is before Cabinet, adding that it has become imperative to pass it during “this sitting”. He also noted that there are some Private Members Motions.
“In fact we have a lot of them, and international agreements, treaties and conventions also awaits the consideration of the House. I can only urge members to psych up“, he said.
