Leadership for Seventh Parliament named
Veteran politician, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, has been named the Speaker of Parliament of the Fourth Republic, parliamentary sources have disclosed.
Prof. Oquaye, a distinguished Lawyer and Historian, served as the Second Deputy Speaker of the House between 2009 and 2013.
He was the Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya from 2005 to 2013.
He has also served as Ghana’s High Commissioner to India from 2001 to 2004, Minister of Energy from 2005 to 2006, and Minister of Communications from 2006 to 2009.
Mr Joseph Osei Owusu, a Lawyer and Member of Parliament for Bekwai, has also been nominated as the First Deputy Speaker.
Meanwhile, outgoing Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, also a Lawyer with vast experience in the Legislature, has been nominated to become Second Deputy Speaker of the House in the next Parliament.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, the current Minority Leader and veteran Legislator, has been named the Majority Leader, and he would be assisted by the Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya, Madam Sarah Adwoa Safo, who is also a Lawyer.
Kwasi Ameyaw Cheremeh, the MP for Sunyani East, would become the Majority Chief Whip.
On the Minority side, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has been named as the leader.
Mr Iddrisu, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, has served on a number of committees in Parliament including the Appointments Committee, the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Committee, as well as the Judicial Committee.
Mr Iddrisu would be deputised by the Member of Parliament for Ketu North, Mr James Klutse Avedzi.
Mr Klutse is a Chartered Accountant and has served in Parliament for 12 years. He is the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament.
Other leaders for the Minority side include Mohammed Muntaka, who would maintain his position as the Chief Whip, with the Member of Parliament for Banda, Ahmed Ibrahim, and the Member of Parliament for Ada East, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe-Ghansah, serving as deputy minority chief whips.
The Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic would be constituted on January 6, 2017, ahead of the official swearing-in of the President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo, on Saturday, January 7.
Source: GNA