Legal Discrepancy Puts Inauguration Of New Parliament In Limbo

Unless the new Transition Act is amended to correct a conflict between one of its provisions and that of the 1992 Constitution, the new Parliament cannot be inaugurated.

That is the concern raised by the Public Affairs Director of Parliament, Mr Jones Kugblenu.

Mr. Kugblenu told XYZ News on Thursday afternoon that the Public Affairs Directorate of Parliament has brought the conflict between the Transition Act and the 1992 Constitution concerning the inauguration of the new Legislature to the attention of the Attorney General for a remedy to be fashioned out before January 3.

Explaining the conflict, Mr Kugblenu described it as a challenge which Parliament is trying to overcome before the inauguration is due.

“The Transition Act indicates that the new parliament should be inaugurated 2 days before the 7th [of January]. The [1992] Constitution also states that the first meeting of the new parliament should see the election of deputy Speakers and that should take place after dissolution,” he stated.

He said the lawyers are examining the conflict to ensure that there are no constitutional bottlenecks before the inauguration can go ahead, adding “we've asked the Attorney General to look at it and advice the clerk who will chair the first meeting accordingly.”

“As soon as we able to thrash these things out, maybe the law could be amended between now and the 3rd [of January 2013].”

He stressed that parliament does not want to do engage in any illegal procedures that contradict the Constitution of Ghana.