Who Leads Parliament?

A few days from today, President-elect John Dramani Mahama will unveil one among three persons for the position of Speaker of Parliament, a critical appointment in the legislative arm of Government.

With no likelihood of the incumbent Speaker being retained, speculations are rife as to who, among Kenneth Dzirasah, a former deputy Speaker, Doe Adjaho, current deputy Speaker and Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah, a former NDC national chairman, assumes the leadership of the legislature and screams “order, order” during parliamentary sessions.

Top on the list is Mr Dzirasah who appears to have won the hearts of most MPs on both sides of the House of Parliament.

With a vast experience in legislation, especially legal drafting, this lawyer was, between 1993 and 1996, the Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency in the Greater Accra Region, before relocating to South Tongu, where he comes from.

Having acted as first deputy Speaker between 1993 and 2000 and second deputy Speaker from 2000 to 2004, those who tip him for the juicy appointment think he is just the right man.

He was called to the Bar in 1980 after graduating from the University of Ghana in 1977.

Mr Doe Adjaho, on the other hand, although also dangles enviable academic qualifications as Mr Dzirasah, may lose out when it comes to cross sectional appeal in Parliament.

Also, Mr Adjaho is already an elected MP for the newly created Akatsi South constituency. The party might not want to go for a by-election just a few weeks after a gruelling national election.

As the First Deputy Speaker, Doe Adjaho, until he was dwarfed by Mr Dzirasah, was in the reckoning for the coveted position.

It would look as if his experience in parliamentary practice would not be able to win the position given the emerging variables.

In the likelihood of his being picked, he will have to vacate the Akatsi South seat in accordance with Article 97 (1) b which stipulates that “a Member shall vacate his seat in Parliament if he is elected as Speaker of Parliament.”

Mr Adjaho was born on January 3, 1957 and studied at the University of Ghana. He proceeded to the Ghana School of Law for the Qualifying Certificate In Law before his professional Law Certificate at the Ghana School of Law.

He was called to the Ghana Bar in 1986.
Dr. Obed Asamoah, the man who walked out on the NDC to found the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), after falling out with the NDC Founder Jerry John Rawlings earlier, only to retrace his roots afterwards, is among those whose names keep flashing on the screen as a candidate of power brokers in the NDC, led by Captain Kojo Tsikata.

Dr. Asamoah, like Hon. Doe Adjaho, would not be able to garner the much-needed support of NDC MPs, a critical advantage whose absence would definitely deny him the nod for the job.

In politics however, anything can happen.
In the case of Dr. Asamoah that could be one of the political miracles of local politics.

He was a law teacher who taught many important political personalities in the country, among whom was the late President John Evans Atta Mills.