The Speaker of Parliament, Right Honourable Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has touted vast achievements of the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Lawyer Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, describing the young legislator as one of the hard working MPs in the country.
He noted that he was full praise of Lawyer Sosu because his initiatives in regard to the passage of the first Private Member’s Bills into the law in Ghana has put Ghana in the position Human Rights Council of the United Nations.
“I wonder why anybody would want to contest Honourable Francis-Xavier Sosu for his vast achievements and track records as an MP are unparalleled and unique,” Right Honourable
Bagbin eulogised Honourable Francis-Xavier Sosu.
According to Speaker of the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana, “l threw the genuineness of all the hard working MPs in Parliament of Ghana, like the MP for Madina that is why l didn’t understand why some people were contesting the MP position with Honourable Francis-Xavier Kodjo Sosu.”
He commended the MP for Madina for his great continuous contributions to the development of the Ghana’s Parliament.
The Speaker of Parliament stated categorically that through Honourable Francis-Xavier Sosu’s initiatives and great efforts, the Parliament was able to pass a number of the first Private Member’s Bills into the law in Ghana on December 29, 2020.
Speaker A.S.K. Bagbin made this commendation when he was at the Justice D.F. Annan Conference Room as part of his speech in appreciation of the honour done him by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Proforum Parliament House.
He mentioned that it were those Bills the outgoing ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government including the President His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took to the United Nations to argue for Ghana to be given a position in the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.
He pointed out that; “And yet when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo came back to Ghana, he has officially wrote to us in House of Parliament and affirmed his position that he was not going to assent to some of those Bills.”
“He, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo personally called the MP via telephone and sends him a number of soft copies from his personal phone for him to use for argument. And l went to some of the conferences of lawyers and juries including Members of Parliament as to how we managed to pass the bills to eliminate a death penalty which is one global challenge,” tje Speaker of Parliament revealed.
“And that it is only America country which is refusing to listen, but many countries have come on board because of imperfections of the justice system, so many ignorance people have been convicted, thereby sentence to death and executed and that later on they discovered that it was done in errors,” Right Honourable Alban Bagbin further stressed.
Additionally, the Speaker of Parliament indicated that “we have done so much as a country in the implementation of human right issues and that Ghana has been brought up, it is now a high time for us as we have pledged and promised the people to reset Ghana to actually actualise it.”
It will be recalled that Ghana’s Parliament in December 2020, passed the first Private Member’s Bill into law.
Framework, Private Member’s Bill
A private Member’s Bill is proposed legislation introduced by a Member of Parliament Honourable Francis-Xavier Sosu in his capacity as MP, which is distinct from a Public Bill introduced by a minister of state on behalf of the executive.
Although the 1992 Constitution does not expressly confer power for the enactment of Private Member’s Bill, there are sufficient provisions in the Constitution that impliedly confer this power. These provisions include Articles 93(2), 108, 22(2) and 185(3).
It is a phenomenon that the enactment of the Private Member’s Bill is an entrenched feature of most parliaments in the Commonwealth: New Zealand, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Norway, Nigeria, and Kenya.
Obstacle
Over the years, Parliament has felt restrained by Article 108(a) of the Constitution in exercising its powers to enact Private Member’s Bills.
However, this position changed in June 2020, when the House passed a resolution to commence the passing of Private Member’s Bills.
The House anchored its resolution on the reasoned opinion of Nana S. K. B. Asante that “Article 108 of the Constitution does not impose an omnibus prohibition on the initiation of all legislations by a Private Member, since every Member of Parliament can introduce legislation which does not have specific financial implications spelt out under the Article.”
Prospects
Private Member’s Bill offers enormous prospects. Firstly, it helps deepen democratic culture by empowering citizens, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and other private organisations to participate actively in the law-making process.
Secondly, it offers Minority Members of Parliament the opportunity to initiate Bills and, thereby, contribute towards addressing the winner-takes-all syndrome.
Thirdly, it empowers constituents to properly assess the performance of their MPs based on the core mandates of the latter.
Fourthly, it deepens consensus building in Parliament, as a sponsoring MP needs to get other MPs along to pass a Bill introduced by them.
Lastly, it improves the capacity of MPs and staff towards the enactment of effective legislation.
Ice-breaker, current efforts
As earlier indicated, the first Private Member’s Bill got passed by the Seventh Parliament on December 29, 2020.
This law is the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act 1054). The law amended the Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683) to proscribe acts that constitute dangerous driving that result in the injury or death to the human foetus.
There are ongoing efforts to initiate two Private Member’s Bills in the current Parliament. The first indication was by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, to nip the activities of LGBTQI+ in the country in the bud.
The second indication is by the MP for the Madina Constituency, Mr Francis Xavier-Sosu, who has initiated the process for the enactment of a law to “establish modalities for the payment of compensation to citizens who are unlawfully arrested, restricted, detained or acquitted on appeal but who had previously served part or whole of the prison sentence.”
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