Speaker urges MPs to take sober reflections on their performance

Accra, Dec 22, GNA - Mrs. Joyce Bamford-Addo, the Speaker of Parliament, has appealed to the Members of Parliament to use the Christmas holidays to reflect on their performance and forge ahead for better deliberations next year.

"I must commend both Majority and Minority members for your useful and fruitful deliberations which have pushed our activities up to this level". Mrs. Bamford-Addo, who was giving her closing remarks for the third sitting of the fifth session of the Fourth Republican parliament, also urged the members to conclude all their committee meetings and reports which would guide them to debate issues fruitfully next year.

The house during its sitting, passed 14 bills, two legislative and two constitutional instruments, posed 95 questions on national issues and had a total of 118 Committee sittings.

She said the work of parliament was all about consensus and compromise which the House had demonstrated to the highest level during the three-month sitting from October to December.

Mr. Alban Bagbin, Majority Leader, appealed to members to show respect and decorum to the speaker and the entire leadership by avoiding the use of unparliamentary words during their deliberations.

He said Ghana had played a pivotal role in democratic dispensation in Africa by holding series of successful elections and called on members to uphold that image by performing their duties in the right perspective. The Majority leader commended the Minority for their constant cooperation and urged them to keep that relationship up.

Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Minority Leader, said there had been tremendous improvement in terms of punctuality and urged members to further step up to ensure that all stipulated bills were passed next year. He, however, registered the displeasure of the Minority regarding the late submissions of budget estimates of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, which compelled the house to hold numerous extended sittings before the break. 22 Dec. 09