The Member of Parliament (MP) for Akim Swedru in the Eastern Region, Kennedy Osei Nyarko has suggested for the Speaker of Ghana’s parliament to be elected from within the House.
Per the current arrangement, the Speaker of Parliament is elected from.outsode the House and should an MP be elected, he or she must vacate his seat and have it declared vacant for a by-election to be organized.
But the legislator want the law amended to pave way for MPs to be elected as Speaker.
The legislator is of the view that this would make the Speaker have a casting vote when there is a tie in the House.
He said it would be best for us to consider the amendment following the ongoing stalemates in the House.
He said “Going forward I think we should start thinking of amending the constitution to pave way for the house to elect the Speaker of parliament from within the house.
This will allow him or her to have a casting vote whenever there’s a tie and also be able to represent the country at the ECOWAS parliament. Currently because the speaker is not a sitting member of parliament he is unable to represent the country at the ECOWAS parliamentary deliberations.
I am sure the framers of our constitution did not envisaged situations where there will be a near split of parliament. This is the time for us to fix all this lapses to address any such future challenges.
It will not be in the interest of the country to allow the current stalemates in parliament to continue. All steps must be taken to modify both the constitution and the standing orders to address this teething problems.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
