Ghana’s Fourth Republic Parliament was born on January 7, 1993 when the country returned to constitutional rule after a number of military interventions.
Since then, the country has conducted eight successful Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Article 95 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana provides for the election of a Speaker from among the Members of Parliament (MPs) or from persons qualified to be MPs.
Where the Speaker is elected from among the Members of Parliament, Article 97 of the Constitution specifies that the Speaker vacates his or her seat in Parliament, triggering a by-election.
Besides, the role of the Speaker of Parliament in the country’s fourth republican democratic rule and parliamentary practice has been monumental.
The first person to be appointed as the Speaker of Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana was the late Justice Daniel Francis Annan on 7th January, 1993.
He served as the Speaker of Parliament from 1993 to 2001.
Prior to his appointment as the Speaker, Justice Annan served as a member of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) Government and also Chairman of the National Commission for Democracy, now the Electoral Commission.
On January 7, 2001, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, a private legal practitioner and former Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was sworn-in as the Speaker of the Third Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana and served as the Speaker of Parliament from 2001 to 2005.
However, Mr Ala Adjetey was replaced by Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi-Hughes as the Speaker of the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic during the second term of President John Agyekum’s Administration.
Mr Hughes served as the Speaker of Parliament from 2005 to 2009.
In 2009, when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) came into office, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo became the Speaker of the Fifth Parliament of the Fourth Republic and also became the first lady to be Speaker of the Ghanaian parliament and served from 2009 to 2013.
However, during the second term of the NDC Administration, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho was selected as the Speaker of the Sixth Parliament of the Fourth Republic and became the first sitting MP to be made the Speaker of the Ghanaian parliament and served from 2013 to 2017.
In 2017 when the NPP assumed government, they nominated Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye, former Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 2009 to 2013, former Ghana’s High Commissioner to New Delhi, India, former Minister of Energy, and Communications; former Second Deputy and former MP for Dome Kwabenya, and former Dean of the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana as the Speaker of the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
His term as the Speaker of the current Parliament ends on 7th January, 2021.
Who becomes the next Speaker of Parliament?
Names that could possibly be put down for the position of Speaker are Prof Oquaye, who would repeat the history of the late Speaker D.F. Annan, if he serves for second term; Papa Owusu Ankoma, current Ghana’s High Commissioner in London, former Deputy Majority Leader and former MP for Sekondi; Mr Joe Ghartey, former Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, former Attorney General and Minister for Justice and current MP for Esikado Ketan; and Mr Ayikoi Otoo, current Ghana’s Ambassador to Canada and former Attorney General.