11 December 2008
Mr Abraham Osei-Aidooh, Majority Leader in Parliament, has said the likelihood of two different parties separately controlling the executive and legislature in the next Parliament was a "novel situation".
He said parliament was not an appendage of the executive because both arms of government were governed by elected officers chosen separately through universal adult suffrage.
Reacting to questions from the GNA on a possible scenario of the ruling NPP party controlling the executive and the opposition NDC controlling the legislature, Mr Osei-Aidooh said it was good for the oversight functions of parliament.
The Electoral Commission yesterday announced the outcome of the December 7 Presidential elections, but there are strong indications that the NDC is likely to control majority of the parliamentary seats.
On the implications for government policies and programmes should the two major parties separately control the two arms of government, the Majority Leader said there would be the need for compromise.
He said the government in power would then have to be a listening government and there should then be "nationally oriented policies".
On the question of which party then nominates the next Speaker of Parliament, given the above scenario, Mr Osei-Aidooh said it was the collective decision of all 230 members in parliament to choose the Speaker through voting.
He said conventionally it was the majority leader whose party dominated parliament who nominated the Speaker.
He said although the minority in parliament could also nominate a candidate for the position of the Speaker as done previously by the NDC in nominating the late Mr Peter Ala Adjetey in 2005, however, it was possible that the NDC could be the one choosing the next Speaker in 2009, when it came to majority votes.
Mr Ossei-Aidooh said being the majority in parliament could also come about if two or more parties came together to form a majority.
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If this is true, it is a strategy in the right direction. The original campaign team was overbloated and full of deadweight(s). This lean and mean team has the potential to be more effective.
Well done Ghana for allowing citizens to freely choose the leaders. I think Africa will learn a lot from the Ghanaian case. Africa should learn that the advent of All Inclusive Gorvenments in some African countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe is a step towards autocracy; it's not democracy. Incumbents that lose elections should step down and not enter into some shaddy deals with the victors like Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Kibbaki of Kenya did. I think African democracies like Ghana, Senegal, Liberia and Siera Leone should establish a league of democracies in Africa where only African countries that completely adhere to democratic standards of holding elections are allowed to be members. I think the AU is quite useless as it as an all embracing organisation and the majority dictatorships in the AU are not willing to give democracy a chance.
Active Discussions: Ghana Election a Win for Democracy