NDC TO NOMINATE SPEAKER FOR NEXT PARLIAMENT

Read Time: 2 minutes

NDC TO NOMINATE SPEAKER FOR NEXT PARLIAMENT
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will nominate a candidate for Speaker of the next Parliament of Ghana when the House convenes to elect a leader in January, credible information suggests.

Sources say the NDC is presently considering a number of candidates for Speaker of the 8th Parliament under the 4th Republic against an expected New Patriotic Party (NPP) nominee for the same post.

The 8th Parliament is expected to convene on January 6, 2021 to elect a Speaker and other leaders of the House and to host the swearing-in of the soon-to-be-contested President Elect.

The new parliamentary leadership will also supervise activities of the House for the next four years.

The 8th Parliament is evenly split, with both NDC and NPP having 137 MPs respectively and a single independent candidate to boot, according to official results of the 2020 parliamentary polls by the Electoral Commission.

The NDC has, however, claimed a number of parliamentary seats, including Techiman South, have been falsely declared for the ruling NPP by the Jean Mensah-led EC to enable the NPP arm-twist the law and that the NDC is the true Majority of the

Deep throat sources within the NDC say four names are currently in the lead on a final list, awaiting consultation and further pruning within the week.

Among the early picks for Speaker are retired Supreme Court Justice and member of the United Nations Appeal Tribunal, Justice Sophia Ophelia Adjeibea Adinyira; Speaker of the 6th Parliament, Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho; former Majority/Minority Leader, Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin and the popular party General Secretary and former MP, Hon. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, aka General Mosquito.

The NPP itself is reportedly weighing the selection of a Speaker from three candidates, including Supreme Court Justice, Jones Victor Mawulorm Dotse; current Speaker and former academic, Prof. Mike Ocquaye and NPP National Chairman and former MP, Hon. Freddy Blay.

Nomination of candidates by both parties will be the second time consensus at electing a Speaker would fail under the 4th Republic. Ordinarily, Speakers have been elected on consensus throughout the 4th Republic.

The first exception was when the Kufuor led-NPP nominated Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi-Hughes in 2005 for Ghana’s 4th Parliament.

In that instance, the opposition NDC nominated former NPP National Chairman and incumbent Speaker, Peter Ala Adjetey, as a candidate after President J. A. Kufuor withdrew his nomination in favour of Sekyi-Hughes.

The present situation is, however, occasioned, by the even strength of both parties at 137-MPs.

With the elected MP for Fomena being the only independent, experts say this creates room for jockeying and last-minute negotiations before the secret ballot to elect the next Speaker within the next fortnight.