Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business in Parliament has urged Ghanaians to take advantage of the reconciliation Easter brings to forgive one another and reconcile.

He made the appeal in his closing remarks at the end of the First Sitting of the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament in Accra.

“Mr Speaker, from April 7 – 9, 2023, Christians all over the world, will be celebrating the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, who Christians believe was raised back to life three days after his crucifixion,” the Majority Leader said.

“It is my fervent prayer that Ghanaians and particularly, Christians, would use this festive season to reflect on the need to reconcile with one another as the death of Christ symbolises love and peace. It is only when there is peace that we can develop.”

“We should endeavour to take considerable rest, with the hope that the Almighty God will grant us refreshed energy and good health to continue with our constitutional mandate.”

He expressed gratitude to God for His unwavering kindness and strength throughout the sittings.

“Indeed, it could only be by His grace that we are still here to perform our duties as Members of Parliament”.

The Majority Leader commended Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin and his two deputies: Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, the First Deputy Speaker, and Mr Andrew Asiamah Amoako, the Second Deputy Speaker, for their commitment as well as the entire leadership and press corps for their performance.

Touching on Business in the House, the Majority Leader said the House held 31 Plenary Sittings within an eight-week period, during which Parliament performed its constitutional mandate.

He said during the period, eight Bills were presented to the House and referred to the appropriate committees for consideration and report.

Among them were the Wildlife Resources Management Bill, 2022; the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (Amendment) Bill 2022, and the

The rest are Contracts (Amendment) Bill 2022, Whistle Blower (Amendment) Bill, Rent Bill, and the Budget Bill all for 2023 as well as the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

He said 21 urgent questions and 154 oral questions were asked of and answered by various Ministers of State during the Meeting and about 74 Committee Sittings were also recorded.

The House debated, amended and passed three Bills: the National Vaccine Institute Bill, 2022, the National Pensions (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

“I am confident that the passage of these Bills will establish socially acceptable standards, which will help strengthen our institutional framework,” he said.

The Majority Leader said five other Revenue Bills had been passed by the House: Excise Tax Stamp (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Excise Duty (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Income Tax (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2022, Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022 and the Ghana Revenue Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

He said the National Road Safety Authority Regulations, 2022 was presented to the House on Friday, 17th February, and referred to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee.