Parliament reconvenes Sept. 3 for emergency session

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has summoned Parliament for an emergency session on Tuesday, September 3, 2024.

The Speaker announced this in a communiqué issued on Wednesday, August 7. It said the notice to summon Parliament was pursuant to Article 112 (3) of the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of the House.

The decision to reconvene the House follows a petition from the Majority Leader and New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, after the Speaker adjourned the previous session indefinitely on July 30.

Recall

On Wednesday, July 31, the Majority Leader, Mr Afenyo-Markin, wrote to the Speaker emphasising the need for Parliament to reconvene to tackle pressing government business.

These include the Financing Agreement between Ghana and the International Development Association, requests for tax exemptions for beneficiaries of the One District, One Factory programme, issues related to the Ghana Financial Stability Fund and the consideration of several pending bills.

Mr Afenyo-Markin in his petition to the Speaker stressed the need to fulfill the government's constitutional obligations and serve the interests of the Ghanaian people.

Speaker’s decision to adjourn

Giving the reasons for adjourning the House sine die on July 30, 2024, the Speaker said it was not made in isolation. He said the date was informed by the Parliamentary Calendar of the Fourth Session of the Eighth Parliament which called on Parliament to adjourn at the end of the month of July.

This, the Speaker said, was discussed on several occasions at pre-sitting meetings of the Speaker, and Leaders and agreed to, weeks before the July 30, 2024.

“As the official reports, voice, and video recordings of proceedings of the House will clearly demonstrate, I consistently communicated to the House the agreed adjournment date throughout the meeting.

 The adjournment was neither sudden nor unilateral in this regard as evidenced by the contents of the official reports of July 6, 11, 25, and 26 July 2024,” the Speaker explained.

The Speaker said because of the items prioritised  he sat late hours till midnight to ensure that all those businesses were completed before the House adjourned sine die on the agreed date of July 30, 2024.

“This was particularly so, because in the last week to the adjournment, both Deputy Speakers had to be unavoidably absent from the jurisdiction and I had to sit throughout the sittings, as captured by the official reports,” he said.