Parliament will resume sittings on Friday, April 17th, 2020.
The House is currently on suspension.
A statement announcing the resumption said parliamentary sittings will start at 10: 00 am this Friday. Parliament had earlier defended the decision by the Speaker, Prof. Mike Oquaye to suspend sittingsinstead of an indefinite adjournment.
In a statement, Parliament cited the circumstances around the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic as justification for the Speaker’s action.
The Minority in Parliament had threatened to drag the Speaker of Parliament to the Supreme Court for what it termed as the Speaker’s illegal conduct in suspending Parliament.
Ordinarily, to end a meeting, the Speaker would adjourn the House indefinitely and under such circumstances, a recall of the House would require a 14-day notice.
But Parliament also cited Standing Order 6 which gives the Speaker room to “make provisions as he deems fit” when there is no explicit direction.
Members of Parliament were recalled last week to give the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta the opportunity to request for permission to spend some GHS1.2 billion from the Contingency Fund to boost the fight against COVID-19.
The request was referred to the Finance Committee of the House after which an authorization was given that same day.
Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
