General News of Tuesday, 28 June 2005

Source: GNA

The people accord Parliament high respect - Speaker

Accra, June 28,GNA - Mr Ebenezar Begyina Sakyi-Hughes, Speaker of Parliament, on Wednesday said Ghanaians perceive the House as a very important institution in the shaping of their destiny.

"The Legislature is a accorded high respect by the people." Mr Hughes was interacting with a 10 member-delegation from the Lagos State House of Assembly (Parliament of Lagos State in Nigeria) at Parliament House.

He said the 1992 Constitution was a product of the nation's history and the lessons learnt on the path of her political development. The Speaker described the partial fusion of the Executive and the Legislature as a practice that had not threatened the security of the governance in the country.

The Nigerians had wondered how Members of Parliament could function as Ministers of States.

Mr Baba Jide Omoworare, the Majority Leader of the Lagos State Assembly, said the group was in the country to "see how Ghana's Parliament works"

"We want to know how the business and the Standing Order Committees work, how the committees work, in fact, how Parliament itself operates." He said the Lagos State Assembly had 40 members and it was on the second pedestal in the three-tier governance structure of Africa's most populous nation.

Local councils were lower as the federal Assembly based in Abuja, the capital, formed the apex.