Adom-Otchere reveals how NPP can use Fomena MP to deny NDC leadership position in Parliament

Paul Adom-Otchere, the host of Good Evening Ghana has detailed how the New Patriotic Party could use the Member of Parliament for Fomena to deny the National Democratic Congress of any of the leadership positions in Parliament.

The two parties are set to go toe-to-toe after they both announced their candidates for the Speaker of Parliament position.

The NPP has decided to stick with current Speaker Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye who has held the position since January 2017.

The NDC on other hand has settled on Alban Bagbin who is the longest-serving MP in Ghana’s history.

The election of Speaker of Parliament is captured in Article 95 of the 1992 constitution which provides for the election of a speaker from among the members of Parliament or from persons who are qualified to be members of Parliament.

Article 96 of the constitution provides the framework for how the two Deputy Speakers of Parliament could be elected.

It states that “ (a) there are two Deputy Speakers who are elected from among the members of Parliament by the members. (b) Both deputy speakers cannot be from the same political party.

Conventionally, since 2008, the Second Deputy Speaker has been reserved for the minority because they do not contest the main and first deputy positions due to the general acceptance that the party with the majority would win the position.

But with both parties now having the same number of members in the house, the two parties have announced their nominees who will be elected via secret ballot in Parliament.

Here, Paul Adom-Otchere reckons the NPP could use the Fomena MP who has already made known his intentions of pitching camp with the NPP MPs to take over all the leadership positions in the house.

“If it happens that the NDC contests and Mike Oquaye wins. The NPP will now be emboldened to say that they are going to vote 138 for Speaker, 138 for First Deputy and 138 for Second Deputy. The law states that both deputy speakers should not come from the same political party. It means that if the NPP has Mike Oquaye as Speaker and get the First Deputy Speaker, they might not deny the NDC of the Second Deputy Speaker because of the law. The NPP might be able to nominate the Fomena MP to become the Second Deputy Speaker”, he said.