The First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, has said many showdowns have characterised the 8th Parliament as a result of having too many young people in the House.
He says because a lot of the parliamentarians now are very young, they are more appealed to the dramas that occur in the House than getting results.
The Bekwai lawmaker says issues in the 8th Parliament which has resulted in fisticuffs, have been resolved amicable amongst leadership in previous parliaments, including the recent vacant seats brouhaha that has put the House in a bad light.
According to him, “we are moving away from the values of Parliament, how Parliament had run over the years. We are demonstrating the worst part of us. In the past, there have always been significant differences between the minority and the majority.”
He tells Keminni Amanor on TV3’s Hot Issues Sunday, November 03, 2024, that what is happening in Parliament is a manifestation of the worst part of the Legislature, something he says he regrets to observe.
“It is this time that we have almost, almost equal numbers, that the worst part of us is
He said the many young people in the House, including the recent leadership reshuffle by both caucuses to replace the older generation with younger ones, all form part of the recent showdowns in the House.
“It is this time that we have almost, almost equal numbers, that the worst part of us is manifesting. But it may be also a reflection of the times. I regret to observe, and the Speaker has made that observation, I think there are too many young people in Parliament now. Too many young people. The older you grow, the more drama doesn’t appeal to you. You want results, and getting results means focusing on the critical things,” he stated, adding that “there’s too much drama on things that we could easily discuss and agree on.”
Ghana’s Parliament is currently on an indefinite adjournment with the Speaker hinting of reconvening next week.
He adjourned the House indefinitely after failing to attain quorum in its last sitting due to a boycott by the Members from the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The NPP members have said their position as Majority caucus of the House had been taken by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who constitute the Minority.
Meanwhile, the NDC members say they are the Majority following an October 17, 2024 ruling by the Speaker of Parliament which reduced the membership of the NPP members to become the Minority, with the NDC assuming the Majority caucus.
Four Members of Parliament had switched their allegiance to either contesting as independent or joining a different political party in the December 2024 election, a situation Article 97 of the 1992 Constitution says renders one’s seat vacant the moment such a decision is taken.
However, the leader of the NPP caucus, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, after the Speaker’s ruling went to the Supreme Court with an ex parte motion where the apex court stayed the ruling of the Speaker.
This was awaiting an original application which is seeking an interpretation of the Article 97. Meanwhile, the Speaker’s move to get the Supreme Court overturn its earlier verdict of staying his ruling was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Thursday, October 31, 2024.
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