Ghana:It’s Unhealthy For MPs To Work Through The Year Without Leave-Speaker

By Maxwell Nkansah [caption id="attachment_99341" align="alignnone" width="600"] The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin,[/caption] The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has disclosed that as part of the new Standing Orders of the House he intends to propose for Members of Parliament (MPs) to be allowed to go on leave. According to him, it was unhealthy for MPs to work throughout the four years that they were elected without resting. "I would be proposing as part of the new standing orders for at least some period for you to rest." It is done all over the world... You will have some days to rest. " Speaker Bagbin made the disclosure as part of his closing remarks for the second meeting of the second session of the eighth Parliament. Speaker Bagbin explained that it was harmful to people to work all day without relaxing. "I have experienced this for almost 30 years now."Definitely with that experience, I don’t want those of you behind me to go through the same stress." He announced that even as the House receded, the various Committees of Parliament would still be sitting to do the business of the legislature and thanked members for their cooperation and the vibrant and educative engagements that the House had during the second meeting of Parliament. In his comments, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated during the sitting that out of the 12 bills that came before the House, they were able to handle five of them, including the amendment of the Criminal and other Offences Act, the Ghana Standards Authority Bill, Fees and Charges Bill, and the Tax Exemption Bill, among others. He explained that about 20 instruments which came to the House were currently before the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation and commended members for their cooperation during the sitting, urging them to use the recess to touch base with their constituency. In his comments, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, lauded Speaker Bagbin for his good leadership in making Parliament strong and accountable to the people of Ghana. He lauded members and the leadership for working together to ensure harmony in the House during the sitting.