Accra (Greater Accra) 5 May ?99

Mr Samuel Ntim Darkwa, former Clerk of Parliament, on Tuesday stated that the hallmark of a Speaker of Parliament is absolute impartiality when in the Chair.

The Speaker must not only be impartial, but must also be seen to be impartial, he said.

Mr Darkwa made the point in a paper he presented at the First Conference of Speakers of West African Parliaments in Accra.

The Speaker must remove the party tag, "which must be seen to have been removed, and to stay removed as soon as he or she is appointed to this high office."

The three-day conference under the theme "ECOWAS-The Parliamentary Dimension", aims at strengthening Parliamentary Democracy and fostering Inter-Regional and Sub-Regional Co-operation between member-countries.

It is being attended by delegates from 12 out of the 16 ECOWAS member-states namely, Ghana, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Guinea and the Cape Verde.

The rest are Sierra Leone, Senegal, Mali and The Gambia.

There are observers from the Secretariat of ECOWAS and Union of African Parliaments (UAP).

Mr Darkwa said the Speaker must always enforce consistently the rules and established practices of Parliament.

Without the correct application of the rules of the House, debates could degenerate into chaotic scenes.

The former Clerk said the Speaker has an important duty to ensure that the point of view of the minority groups are canvassed so that their frustrations do not find an outlet in walk-outs and press statements.

As the defender of the rights of the institution of Parliament, and its members, it is indeed the Speaker's role to essentially ensure that the integrity of the Legislature in a multi-party democracy is preserved, Mr Darkwa said.

"The hallmark of a vibrant and effective Parliament is its capacity to scrutinise government activities and to hold the Executive to account."

Mr Darkwa traced the history of the office of the Speaker to 1258, saying it was first created in Britain when Peter de Monford was in that year appointed to the chair.

The first Speaker to be so styled was Sir Thomas Hungerfield in 1377, he said.

The former Clerk said the Speaker's office was created in the then Gold Coast in 1949 when the colonial Governor-General ceased to be an ex-official President of the Legislative Council.

The creation of this office marked a significant step in the history of colonial legislature, because in 1951, the legislature under the 1950 Constitution, elected a Ghanaian Speaker, Sir Emmanuel Quist, the first African to preside over a British colonial legislature.

Professor Robert Dossou, Speaker of the Parliament of Benin, stressed the need for governments in West Africa to become financially committed to the task of establishing an ECOWAS Parliament.

Prof. Dossou, whose topic was, "Towards a West African Parliament", urged people in the sub-region to remain united since they all have important roles to play in the creation of the ECOWAS Parliament.

During general discussions, most of the Speakers were of the view that an ECOWAS Parliament was long overdue.