Parliament On Recess For Holidays

The eight-week session of Parliament came to an end on Monday with the House adjourning Sine die for the Christmas holiday. Adjourning sine die (from the Latin "without day") means as "without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing," but indications are that the House might come back by the last week of January 2015.

The House had resumed on November 4, 2014, to the refurbished and expanded seating capacity city of the chamber, and was expected to adjourn last Friday, but the session had to prolong till Monday for some unfinished business.

The main agenda for the House during the session was the presentation of the financial and economic policy statement of the Government for the year 2015, by Mr Seth Terpker, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning.

Members of the legislature debated and approved the various budgetary estimates for state and public institutions, which in many cases they noted that the allocations were rather not enough and earlier were not released early enough for the smooth operations of those institutions.

The House adopted a code of conduct for members, and ratified a number of legislations during the session.

In his closing remarks, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, the Speaker, announced that Mr Alban Sumana Bagbin, the Majority Leader, has been appointed as a member of the Parliamentary Service Board.

The Speaker expressed appreciation to his two deputies, the Leadership of the House, the clerk and the staff, as well as the ancillaries, for their support during the session.

Both the Majority Leader Mr Bagbin and the Minority Leader Mr Osei Kyei-Mensa Bonsu, also expressed appreciation for the support they had from the Speaker, their colleagues, staff and the ancillaries.

Mr Bagbin, however, called on members to minimize the heckling.

He commended the private citizen who is challenging the position of Parliament not to subscribe to the presidential oath by the Speaker when he assumes duties of the President because he has done so earlier, saying the act and the determination of the matter was an indication of the interest of the public in the affairs of Parliament.

Mr Bagbin said the act would enrich the practice of democracy in Ghana.