First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, has backed a pronouncement by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo that it is improper for Members of Parliament (MP) to use the title ‘honourable’ outside parliament.

Mrs Akuffo on Tuesday, 12 December, 2017 rebuked two MPs for adding the title ‘honourable’ to their names in a writ filed on their behalf by their lawyer Edudzi Tameklo.

The MPs – Ernest Norgbey and Kwabena Mintah Akandoh; representing the Ashaiman and Juaboso Constituencies, respectively, had gone to the court to seek annulment of the appointment of Gender Minister, Otiko Afisa Djaba, over her failure to undergo the mandatory one-year national service.

Reacting to the CJ’s reproach of the MPs in an interview with Accra-based Joy FM on Wednesday, 13 December 2017, Mr Osei-Owusu said: “She [CJ] is right in respect of Members of Parliament.”

The Bekwai lawmaker noted that although the title ‘honourable’ can be conferred on people in other jurisdictions, “When it comes to the parliament of Ghana, reference to ‘honourable’ is only in our Standing Orders and it is clear that it is when you are addressing your colleague Member of Parliament that you use the prefix ‘honourable’”.

“So you say, for [example], in reference to the ‘honourable’ member of so so and so, or the honourable colleague or my honourable friend, honourable chairman of the committee, honourable vice chairman, honourable leader; those are the occasions in our Standing Orders that any reference is made to the prefix ‘honourable’, so, if you go through the literature of the history of the title or prefix ‘honourable’, dating back to many centuries, it refers to different kinds of people but the literature clearly when it comes to a Member of Parliament [in Ghana], it is used only in debate to other Members of Parliament. So in that respect the Chief Justice is right.”