From left: Prof Mike Oquaye, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Adwoa Sarfo, Haruna Iddrisu
With the exception of Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Member of Parliament (MP) for Suame, both majority and minority benches in Parliament would be parading new leaders, as the 7th Parliament takes off midnight today.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, outgoing Minority Leader, is wearing a new garb as Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
Outgoing Minister of Employment and Labour Relations and National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, is taking over as leader of the NDC minority group from Alban Bagbin, who is being elevated to Second Deputy Speaker.
Adwoa Sarfo, New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Dome/Kwabenya, will support Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu as Deputy Majority Leader.
The 6th parliament will be dissolved by midnight today, paving the way for the swearing-in of newly elected Members of Parliament to form the 7th Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
After a strong push by the Volta Caucus in parliament to have a Voltaian lead the NDC in parliament while in opposition, the party has now settled on James Klutse Avedzi, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament and MP for Ketu North, as the Deputy Minority Leader, while the current Majority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mubarak Muntaka, will maintain his position but this time as the Minority Chief Whip.
He would be assisted by Ahmed Ibrahim, MP for Banda, who was the Second Majority Chief Whip; and would now be promoted to the First Minority Chief Whip position.
The Second Minority Chief Whip position would now be taken over by Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah, MP for Ada and outgoing Minister of State at the Presidency.
On the other side, the NPP, which won an overwhelming majority in the December 7 general election with 171 seats as against NDC’s 104 and is to be ushered in as the Majority, has also settled on MP for Sunyani East, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, as the Majority Chief Whip, who would be assisted by Alex Afenyo-Markin, MP for Effutu, as the First Majority Chief Whip and Matthew Nyindam, NPP MP for Kpandai, as the Second Majority Chief Whip.
Prof Mike Oquaye has been named as the Speaker of Parliament, with the NPP National Council endorsing the nominees for the parliamentary leadership.
DAILY GUIDE has learnt that the First Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker positions for the next parliament would be occupied by Joseph Osei-Owusu, MP for Bekwai and Alban Bagbin, MP for Nadowli/Kaleo respectively.
The newly-elected MPs would be electing their new leaders as a formality and would also elect the speakers for the 7th Parliament before the new Speaker swears them into office.
After the swearing-in ceremony, the new MPs in the morning of Saturday, January 7, will converge on the Black Star (Independence Square) for the inauguration and swearing-in ceremony of the president-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr