Parliament to acquire transcription machinery to aid production of Hansard
Parliament has initiated moves to acquire new transcription machinery and software to ensure efficiency in the production of the Hansard.
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It has also recruited a number of parliamentary reporters who are currently undergoing training, partly to replace wastage generated through the retirement of Hansard staff, and partly to increase the capacity of the department to ensure the effective and timely delivery of the official report of parliamentary proceedings.
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, announced this when he opened the sixth biennial conference of the Commonwealth Hansard Editors Association (CHEA) in Accra Monday.
The three-day conference seeks to create, among other things, the platform for Hansard editors and officials in Commonwealth Africa to share experiences and exchange ideas, and ultimately chart a common course for the development of a blueprint for the production of accurate, reliable and timely delivered Parliamentary Hansard.
Participants are from 16 commonwealth countries in Africa.
The Hansard is the official record of the proceedings of Parliament, including debates.
It is also a repository of parliamentary procedure, law, practice, conventions and usage.
The production of the Hansard undergoes a very elaborate and laborious process. The work of the reporters involves frequently checking quotations, figures or other matters of technical detail with the member concerned; but they do not add, delete or modify what they have heard in the chamber and which they have already noted down.
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When in doubt, the reporters check their copy with the tape-recorded proceedings.
Reliance on the Hansard
Mr Adjaho said in his 20 years experience as a parliamentarian, he had relied significantly on and been guided by the Hansard as a procedural and evidential working tool, as well as a learning resource, not only for the fourth republican years, but also for the first, second and third republican years beginning in July, 1960.
“Even as Speaker of Parliament, I continue to rely on the Hansard as one of the key source documents for precedence on parliamentary procedures to make my rulings in the chair, particularly as the project on the compilation of the rulings of the Speaker in our Parliament is yet to be completed. Indeed, only last week Monday, January 6, 2014, when I had to make a ruling in the chair on a matter relating to the sub judice rule, I relied heavily on a precedent alluded to by one of my predecessor Speakers and quoted from portions of his ruling contained in the official report of December 13, 2001,” he said.
He said the Hansard, although a simple record of proceedings, reflected the philosophical and psychological mood of Parliament at each sitting, adding that it was not uncommon to discern from the Hansard when there had been laughter, uproar, orderliness or chaos in the House, as the case might be.
Mr Adjaho described the Hansard as a “defender of truth”. He said while the text of the verbatim report exposed the dishonest politician on the floor, it vindicated the truthful and honest one.
“Indeed, this is one of the primary reasons why all of our parliaments should endeavour to capacitate and strengthen their respective Hansard departments to produce the official report in a consistent and timely manner. This would ensure that verbatim records of proceedings are always available as source documents for the verification of what actually happened on the floor at any point in time during sittings of the House,” he noted.
Deputy Clerk
The Deputy Clerk of Parliament, Mr Cyril Nsiah, said the contribution of Hansard editors and officers to the attainment of the objectives of Parliament could not be underestimated.
The critical role of the Hansard, he said, underpinned the saying that “ Hansard is the chronicle of history of Parliament”, and thus mirrored the work of a Parliament.
According to him, the mandate of staff of Parliament required them to provide adequate professional services to Parliament to ensure effective exercise of the powers of Parliament.
“Any parliamentary service that desires to offer effective support services to members of Parliament should, therefore, strive to complement the traditional parliamentary practices and procedures with innovative and information communication technology driven initiatives,” he said.