Debates of 5 Jan 2006

Hon.
Members, let me take this opportunity to welcome you from the Christmas holidays particularly those of you in Ghana, and also express the gratefulness of the Leadership of the House for coming here at very short notice. This is a historic Sitting in the sense that we have with us our colleagues elected for both the Senate and the House of Representatives of Liberia. They are here with us; they have been here for a couple of days. They have come for us to have this joint Sitting. I would say, all in all, it is going to be an interesting Sitting; so you are most welcome.

Indeed,
I think I have made a mistake. The Statement is going to be made by the Minority Leader first.

Mr. Speaker, on a point of clarification. I do not know whether I heard you right. You were
talking of a meeting of Parliament? I have not seen the Mace. I can also see a lot of strangers in the House. So I am not sure whether it is a meeting of the House; it might be a special Sitting.

You are
absolutely right, if you say it is a special Sitting of our House, that is Parliament of Ghana and both Houses of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Yes. So Mr. Speaker, I

Mr.

Mr. Speaker, I

Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, would you please take your seat.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.

Mr.

Hon.
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, you are out of order.
Now, I will call on the hon. Majority Leader to make a Statement to the House.

Hon. Members, this is the Statement from the hon. Majority Leader on the duties and responsibilities of a Member of Parliament. Now, the Chair will take comments, not questions, and any opinions on what he has said; and this will come from all hon. Members of this House. So the floor is open and if you want to ask Questions, you may please rise and catch my eye. Yes, hon. Deputy Minority Leader. Sorry hon. Minority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, you almost reduced me - [Laughter.]

It was almost intentional - [Laughter.]

Mr. Speaker, I just want to make a few remarks on the Statement that has been made by my hon. Colleague, the Majority Leader in this special Joint Sitting of the Parliaments of Ghana and Liberia.
Mr. Speaker, I have had a cursory look at the Constitution of Liberia; it is quite unique. I can say generally it is more
practical than ours because it contains more flesh when it raises issues; and I can see a bit of clarity in some of their provisions than ours. Therefore, what my hon. Colleague, the Majority Leader stated are the general duties and functions of Members of Parliament. They may, differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
But Mr. Speaker, we are here in this honourable House because we have been given an honourable duty, and that is why we are called honourable Members of Parliament. That is an onerous duty and it is important for us to keep on emphasizing that these are not private functions. They are public, they are national. And when they say you are a representative of your people, the representation is not limited to your constituency.
The representation is of a national character as much as a constituency character and therefore, your first duty is to your nation; that is paramount - the national interest. If the national interest is well defended, projected, then the interest of your constituents would be served.

Now, I have seen and read a lot of

academic work emphasising on the representation of your constituency and not raising that to the level of representation of your country. I think that we need to rectify that lapse.

In Ghana, we are faced with a peculiar

system; a system which for want of a better term is usually referred to as a “hybrid”. Recently, it is being referred to as “the neither nor system”. It is neither a presidential nor a parliamentary system. I think it is high time we as a country looked deep into what we have chosen for ourselves so that we can try to balance the arms of Government properly.

As at now, I think we are swimming

Hon. Members, particularly, from both the Senate and the House of Representatives of Liberia, you can also make contributions and seek clarification. And please, before you do that could you tell us your name and which party you belong to.
Mr. Edward Forh (Constituency No. 12, Montoraldo County - Congress for Democratic Change (CDC)): Mr. Speaker, we are happy to be here today and

Your
request will definitely be seen to by the Clerk of the House.

Mr. Speaker, Distinguished Majority and Minority Leaders and parties, Fellow Legislators from Liberia, Fellow Parliamentarians:
We want to thank the distinguished and kind people from this great country for the way and manner in which they have identified with Liberia through our long toils over the last 15 years. We know that it goes back as far as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. We considered him as part of Liberia and we hope that the solidarity which began in pre-colonial days will continue to unite our countries.
We know that during our difficult times Ghanaians shed their blood, so that we might be standing here today and speaking and we hope and pray that the human capital investments, the funds that you invested in us and invited us to sit with this august body, these honourable men and women elected duly by their constituents

Evangelist Prince Johnson (Senator- Elect - Nimba County): I am happy to have the privilege to be in your great country. It is also a happy privilege for me to be elected as a Member of Parliament in my country and to be able to sit here with my colleagues in the Republic of Ghana during this special Sitting.

We thank you for the warm reception.

We thank you for the warm welcome. We thank you for your intervention in our country to bring peace to our devastated country, and we thank you for the achievements you have made so far. The end result is the peace we have today in the election.

Thank you so much and God bless you. We hope and pray that you will continue to be with us.

Ms. Joyce M. Freeman (Senator-

Elect - CDC): I would like to say thank you to the hon. Speaker and Members of this honourable Body for inviting us to interact with your Parliament.

I would also like to say that I have

I am happy to say I am overwhelmed because Ghana has always been there for us. In the heat of the war Ghana accepted us and we had a peace; accord here that brought about peace; we will always put Ghana first in our lives.
Ghana has also accepted us coming over here to go through this parliamentary procedure and I am so happy to say that Ghana and Liberia are one. The last time I was here, I think I was just about four years old and now that I am here, I am a fully grown up woman participating in Parliament and along with the Ghanaian Parliament. Ghana, I must say, we lift up our hearts onto you. Liberians love you and I pray that we all move together.
Thank you very much for the accommodation you have afforded us.
Deputy Majority Leader (Mr. A. O.
Aidooh): Mr. Speaker, I will make a brief comment on the Statement by the Minority Leader, supported by our Colleagues from
Ghana and Liberia.
Mr. Speaker, the role of Parliament and Parliamentarians is very crucial to the practice of democracy anywhere in this world, more so in Africa, where we have almost all the time had overbearing executives whose powers are protected by Constitutions. Mr. Speaker, it is important that as Parliamentarians, we use what powers we have in our various Constitutions to hold the Executive in check. And more particularly, I would want to advise my Colleagues from Liberia. I know some of them may have the necessary experience but this will drive the point more home.
It is important that as Parliamentarians, we try to use our powers both during Question Time, by way of Questions and by way of Statements under our rules to hold the Executive in check. In fact, the most important work of a Parliamentarian in this our democracy is the power of oversight. Members of Parliament must oversee Executive actions either through Motions, Debates, Acclamations, through Statements, or through Questions. And as you go by this, the powers of the Public Accounts Committee, whose prime or proper agent is the Auditor-General, is very crucial if Parliamentarians must be able to hold the State apparatus to account.
I would therefore entreat our Colleagues from Liberia to assiduously apply themselves to whatever orders they have, or they must jealously guard their Standing Orders. You must at all times be conscious of your powers as Parliamentarians through Question Time, through Statements, through Motions and through the effective use of your committee system, especially as regards the Committee on Public Accounts which in our Parliament is chaired by a Member from a party that is not in government. The proper thing is to ensure

that that committee would always hold Government accountable to the electorate.

I wish you all the best. I have just glanced through your Constitution and you have Chapter 6 which is on the Executive; then it is followed by the Chapter on the Judiciary and others. I have no doubt that if you exercise all those powers you can influence the emergence of a vibrant, buoyant and successful democracy almost next to Ghana.

I wish you all the best.

Mr. Nelson Wah Barh (Senator_

West-APD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for recognizing us. I am a Senator-elect from Brent Crew County which is one of the counties in the south- eastern portion of our country. I won on the ticket of one of the political groupings called the Alliance for Peace and Democracy.

Mr. Speaker, hon. Members of this august body, I want to say that it would be proper and right for you our brothers here in Ghana to celebrate. Yes, Liberia is older than Ghana. In our experience with multiparty democracy something seemed to have gone wrong in our country. And recently we found ourselves embroiled in war trying to find the point of harmony in our democracy. I remember in 2003 I was one of those who came for the Peace Conference here and we were here for three months at your hospitality and accommodation.

Our presence is the continuance of what you had started to do to help us and you know providence has a way of driving situations. We who are here happen to be the first real elected lawmakers of Liberia - [Hear! Hear!] Thanks to you, we came here, we evolved a peace document which required us to conduct an election which

we have done. And as providence will have it, we are here before we even take our seat to come back to visit you and to let you know that all is well at home.

So thank you very much again; we are happy to be with you. Thank you for all that you are doing for us. May God Bless you.

Mrs. Grace Coleman (NPP -

Effiduase/Asokore): Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful for the opportunity to say a few words to my hon. Colleagues both in Ghana and from Liberia.

Mr. Speaker, as I looked at our

Mr. Speaker, here in Ghana we are

striving for the woman to come up to be part of decision-making. Unfortunately, it is not every country that has the opportunity. I am happy that today we see

Mr. Speaker, there
are two more Statements to be presented so I would want to recommend that we take the Statements before we open the floor for the discussions as that will accelerate the pace of the discussions.

Thank
you for your suggestion, but before I do so let us hear the hon. Member's contribution.
Senator Elect Roland C. Kaine
(CDC - Mike Ibe County): Mr. Speaker, commenting on the statement by both the hon. Majority and the Minority Leaders, we would like to say that, though the Ghanaian Parliament is uni-camera, Liberia is bi-camera -- we have the House of Representatives and we have the Senate. But both Parliaments have similar objectives.
What are the objectives? We are talking about loyalty to the state, concern for your electorates, and enacting laws that seek the improvement in the livelihood of people as Parliamentarians; that is the similarity. For us at the Senate level we look at this venture as a good beginning, good beginning demonstrating goodwill from the international community; a good beginning demonstrating the goodwill of our African brothers of ECOWAS of which Ghana forms a part.

An hon. Member Elect from Liberia

- rose -

Hon.

Hon. Member, you will have to catch my eye; it is not me catching your voice. So please be where you are standing and if the need be that you catch my eye -- But please take your seat for now I would want one more Statement to be made and in the course of time I will definitely call you to make your contribution.

Standing Orders or Rules of Procedure

Deputy Minority Leader (Mr. E.

K. D. Adjaho): Mr. Speaker, I am the Deputy Minority Leader and I believe the hon. Minority Leader was with this delegation from Liberia on Tuesday, that is why the lot fell on me to make the statement.

Mr. Speaker, mine relates to the Standing Orders or Rules of Procedure. Mr. Speaker, in order to make my work easier I conspired with the hon. Minority Leader to raise the point of order with regards to the Mace and the strangers.

I had looked at the programme that was drawn for them at GIMPA and I have observed that “Rules of Procedure” was one of the topics that they treated there and we thought that the best way to do it was to practicalize it on the floor of the House. That is why we tried to do that by asking the hon. Minority Leader to raise a point of order, which I seconded asking Mr. Speaker to rule on the matter and then put the Question and take on the voice vote.

Mr. Speaker, no institution can operate

without any rule and that really is the essence of the Standing Orders or the Rules of Procedure.

Indeed, in Commonwealth Jurisdiction we refer to them as Standing Orders but in America and other countries they refer them as the Rules of Procedure; and I have had the privilege of looking at article 38 of the Liberian Republican Constitution and they used the words “Rules of Procedure.” But Mr. Speaker, talking about Rules of Procedure, we always try to refer to a Clerk of the House of Commons for 52 years he was the Clerk in the 18th or 19th -- century called John Hatsell and this was what he said about Rules of Procedure or standing Orders:

“There should be a rule to go by in order that there may be uniformity of procedure in the Business of the House, not subject to the momentary caprice of the Speaker or the captious dispustes any of the members that order, decency and regularity should be preserved in large, and numerous and consequentially sometimes tumultuous Assembly.”

Mr. Speaker, at times on the floor of Parliament, but for the Rules of Procedure or the Standing Orders and for the presence of Mr. Speaker, we cannot imagine what would have happened on the floor of the House. So in order to maintain order on the floor of the House, in order to guide Members as to what they should do, that underlines the essence of the Rules of Procedure or the Standing Orders. And the Standing Orders of Ghana, just like the one from Liberia, derive their authority and legitimacy from the Constitution. Ours may be found in article 110 (1) of the 1992 Constitution; and I believe in the case of the Liberian Constitution, article 38.

One important point we ought to make

have always breached that. Normally, in a contribution we are not supposed to mention the name of the member, you mention the constituency which he or she represents. So one may say the hon. Member for North Dayi or the hon. Member for Akyem Swedru -- [Laughter.] -- So normally we are not supposed to mention the name of the person and, in fact, this one, we derived it from the British practice; we refer to the constituency that the hon. Member represents. This also is the case for hon. Ministers who appear before the House to answer Questions; we refer to their Ministries - the hon. Minister for Food and Agriculture.
Again, it is important that our Standing Orders - I believe in most places Members are supposed to speak once on an issue. However, there is an exception; when one is is the mover of a motion one is given an opportunity to wind up. Again, at the Consideration Stage of Bills, when we are amending Bills, one can speak as many times as possible.
And within the Ghanaian practice we tilt the Mace to show that we are not being guided strictly by the Standing Orders; So the Mace is always tilted and at times one can rise up to give clarification to a point that one earlier on raised which is being misconstrued by another Member of the House.
We just heard Mr. Speaker saying that he does not catch one's voice; a Member will have to catch Mr. Speaker's eyes. In other jurisdictions they sit down and speak but in the Ghanaian practice, which is borrowed again from the British, as many Members as possible stand up and then Mr. Speaker calls one of the several hon.
Members who are on their feet; and that is what we refer to as catching Mr. Speaker's eyes. You do not open the microphone and shout your name or call Mr. Speaker, or anything of the sort.

In fact, the experience I have had seen with all successive Speakers in Ghana's Parliament is that when you do that they will punish you. They will not even call you at all, they will rather frustrate you. At times, when there is disorder in our Parliament -- Looking at our Standing Orders, Mr. Speaker always sits down to address the House, but whenever Mr. Speaker, rises to speak, then you must know that there is trouble. Whenever Mr. Speaker, rises from his Chair to address the House, everybody must sit down and there must be quiet; and when a Member does not and Mr. Speaker mentions his or her name, then the Marshall or the Sergeant-at-Arms would have to drive him or her out of the Chamber or the floor of the House.

Talking about Standing Orders, the most powerful person, in my view, is Mr. Speaker. He is the one who interprets the rules and his decision on these interpretations is final; a Member can only review it by substantive motion. So when Mr. Speaker rules on a matter, it is final. Indeed, under our Parliamentary system, Mr. Speaker is not a Member of this House in the sense that he is not an elected Member of Parliament. If one were a Member of Parliament and is are elected Speaker, he or she would have to resign his or her seat, because we want a certain degree of neutrality from the Chair.

However, the two Deputy Speakers are Members of Parliament of various parties. That is why our Standing Order 90 is very clear that during debate Mr. Speaker should not take part in the debate at all. When the time comes one day to review

Hon.
Member, are you on a point of order?

I just noticed, Mr.
Speaker, that he was making a Statement. I cannot come on a point of order when he is making a Statement. But he was seriously misleading the House by saying

You can
definitely raise a point of order.

Alright. He was
misleading this House by indicating that Government brought legislation - Government brings Bills before this House, not legislation.

Very well.
Hon. Doe Adjaho, it is for your benefit.

Mr. Speaker, Government brought legislation on public holidays. Indeed, it was a draft Bill and it was a legislation. It is when it is passed and assented to that it becomes law.

Then we realized that we also did not like the Bill; we wanted to frustrate the Government's side and we took note of the fact that some of the Ministers were out of the jurisdiction and they had a problem in passing that law without our support. Under our rules you need one hundred Members to take a vote on an issue. What we did at the time - [Interruption] Yes, at that time we were two hundred Members but now we are two hundred and thirty Members. We needed one hundred Members to take a vote.

Deputy Minister for the Interior

(Capt. Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey (Rtd.): Mr. Speaker, there is a small problem and I think your intervention would assist. When my hon. Colleague was on his feet he made a point that Government brought legislation and one of his own hon. Colleagues drew his attention to the fact that Government does not bring legislation; they introduce Bills into the House. But Mr. Speaker, you did not make a ruling and so our minds are in a state of confusion. Who is right?

You are out of order. Hon. Member, continue.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for your wise ruling. Mr. Speaker, the point being made is that the more regular one is on the floors that is in attending Parliament, one stands a better position to use the rules effectively to his or her advantage.
Mr. Speaker, given the time allowed, we cannot cover all the areas on the rules and procedures or our Standing Orders. I think I would rest my case here and in the course of the discussions when any of the issues crops up, hon. Members from both sides of the House and indeed from Liberia would all participate in clearing certain areas that maybe I did not do justice to.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Hon. Members, that is for your consideration and attention, and if need be, your contribution thereon.

Mr. Speaker, hon. Members of Parliament of the Republic of Ghana, my fellow hon. Colleagues from the Legislature Elect of the Republic of Liberia, on behalf of my hon. Colleagues and the Delegation of the Unity Party we wish to express our heartfelt thanks and profound appreciation for the opportunity

Mr. Speaker, hon. Members of the Parliament of Ghana, our hon. Colleagues from Liberia, please permit me to speak on behalf of the Liberty Party (LP) of Liberia in the Lother County of the Northern Region of the Republic of Liberia that I represent.
We are grea t ly honoured and overwhelmed by the high level of hospitality exhibited by the great people of Ghana. We are not oblivious of the fact that Ghana had been involved in the problems in Liberia. In the 1990s, Ghana along with our West African counterparts intervened in the crisis and your intervention saw the abatement of hostilities in Liberia. Moreover, the Accra Comprehensive Peace Accord that you sponsored paved the way for the holding of General and Presidential Elections that would usher in the legislators-elect that

you see today.

When the idea of coming to Ghana to sharpen our skills was advanced, there were many concerns that were raised. One of the cardinal concerns that was raised was that Ghana has a uni- camera structure as opposed to Liberia which has a bi-camera structure. But all of us thought that parliamentary procedures the world over were unique in terms of making legislations, in terms of maintaining oversights on the departments of Government and the like, and we agreed to come to the great country of Ghana.

We are also thankful for the facilities, the great accommodation at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) that you have accorded us. I must say in frank terms that GIMPA has helped and they have continued to help in sharpening our skills to meet the challenges of Liberia. I tell you that the challenges of Liberia are enormous, especially in current day realities where the fabric of the Liberian society is completely down. We also continue to entreat your support, your moral support, your logistical support and resource support to the great Parliament of Liberia. We believe that no country can live in isolation; we have to co-exist in the West African sub-region as brothers and sisters.

I also want to say thank you to the people of Ghana whom you represent.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to associate myself with the words of advice given by my hon. Colleague,
Mrs. Grace Coleman, and to add that as women Parliamentarians - In fact, this advice goes to my hon. Colleague women Parliamentarians and Senators. To be successful in your work you will need to work extra hard. You will need to spend a lot of time in familiarising yourselves with the Standing Orders and the other rules of procedure of the House. Initially, you are going to be making several mistakes but I do not think that you should let these mistakes stop you. Once you get over them the sky would be your limit.
I again want to add that you will be
combining your work as Senators and female Parliamentarians with your work as mothers, as wives, and as community leaders and you must know how to manage your time very effectively, otherwise you will be making very serious sacrifices that in the end will not be helpful to you as far as your family relationships are concerned. Some of us have been through it and that is why I am here, I am speaking with experience and you would need to work very seriously at that.
I also want to say that a lot of difficulties
would be put in your way by your own male colleagues because they would you to fail so that they would say that, “Oh, after all, women are not capable; they are not competent.” You need to have that at the back of your minds right from day one, so once you launch yourselves into work, you must make sure that you excel in whatever you do.
And then also, try as much as possible to be in the senior leadership of the House. We in Ghana, my hon. Colleague and I, find ourselves at the bottom of the ladder. In fact, the two of us are the Second Deputy Majority and Minority Whips. I am the Second Deputy Minority Whip and even though we see it as some kind of recognition, I think that we could have done better because some women have the knowledge and experience to be in very

On a point of information. Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member speaking did not properly introduce herself. She is the former Chief Justice of the Republic of Liberia in the last government - [Hear! Hear!]
Senator Elect Scott: Thank you for
the point. Mr. Speaker, I was just closing and concluding that we the women in Liberia would be encouraged and we will indeed live up to the challenge because the problems of our country are enormous. Sometimes, in thinking about them we seem to think about them as overwhelming, but we know we would succeed with the support of our hon. Colleagues here and women all over Africa and in the world.

Capt. (Rtd.) Effah-Dartey: On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I only want to seek a little clarification. When the hon. Deputy Minority Leader was talking about the rules of procedure and the Standing Orders, I listened very attentively. He did a very good job, but he did not mention one aspect which I thought, maybe, I needed your guidance.

Mr. Speaker, what happens if the Minority walks out of Parliament? Is it part of the Standing Orders? Is it part of the rules of procedure? I want your guidance.

You are out of order. [Laughter.]
Rep. Elect Saah Richard Gbollie (NPP - Mike Ibe County in the Rubber Belt): Mr. Speaker, I am happy that we have been afforded this opportunity. My hon. Colleagues rather said almost everything but it would be a disservice

if we did not mention here our gratitude for the safe haven you provided for our compatriots here at the our camp at Budumbura and elsewhere in Ghana during the heated days in Liberia. This is significant and we think we should mention this here so that posterity can judge us. We are very happy for the numerous contributions, particularly your contributions to the ICGL, one of the international bodies that were put together to bring peace to our country.

What I want to say here, my fellow hon. Colleagues of the Ghanaian Parliament is that Liberia is at the crossroads. Yes, elections have been held, but there are several challenges still ahead of us. Some of them are domestic oriented, others have international implications and we just want to urge you to continue to stand by us because it is better to prevent than to kill. You have spent a lot in everything you contributed in helping us get to where we are, and it would be just good for you to continue to monitor the process such as GIMPA is doing and this opportunity afforded us. Thank you for all the good things, and we know that by continuing to be with us, it will keep us on track and Liberia would get back and be a respectable nation among the comity of nations.

Senator Elect Frederick D. Charrue (COTOL - Rovergy Councy) : Mr. Speaker, the Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia (COTOL) is an organisation which comprises two political parties in Liberia. On behalf of my colleagues in that institution we want to join all of the hon. Members Elect from Liberia who spoke and who have expressed appreciation to the Ghanaian people and Government for what you have done for Liberia. We remember when Liberians were dying, the Ghanaians were there to save us. We will never forget.

Mr. Speaker, if I am not out of order, I have one concern to express. And this concern is that being newly elected Members of Parliament or -- [Interruption4.30p.m.

On a point of order.

Are you
hon. Balado, hon. Member on your feet? Is your name hon. Balado?

Mr. Speaker, I am
Federick Doe Charrue - [Laughter] - Senator elect, Rovergy County, on the ticket of the Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia - [Hear! Hear!]. [Laughter].

Senator Elect John Ballout, Jnr. (UP

- County): Thank you very much. Hon. Speaker, hon. Members of the Ghanaian Parliament, my fellow Colleagues from Liberia, I want to start by saying we are very sorry for what we have been doing in the past. We apologise as Liberians for our uncivilized behaviour that we have exhibited over the recent years in the history of Liberia. We are fully aware of the embarrassment we have caused to the West African Region . We are fully aware of the pains and hurt we have caused our fellow Africans. [Pause.] -- Our past is actually our past. We cannot do anything about it. But now that we have the opportunity to do something about our

future, I would want to assure you that we will do something about it.

We are fully aware of the expectations of the Liberian people. We are fully aware of the expectations of our African brothers and sisters. We are fully aware of the watchful eyes of our fellow Ghanaians, including your Parliament to see what we will do with the opportunity we now have. We want to say that we will do our best. The task is indeed huge but with your help and your experience and if we can allow ourselves to have a chain by which we can consult each other more frequently I am sure we will succeed.

I want to say special thanks to your President, His Excellency, Mr. J.A. Kufuor and to the people of Ghana. My fellow Colleagues have said that repeatedly but there is nothing wrong in saying it again. We want to thank you for being there in ECOMOG, for the CPA and most importantly for being such a good host to thousands of Liberians who came here as refugees and today they have the chance to return home knowing that they would be leaving another home. We want to say a big thank you to GIMPA; we have learnt a lot since we have been there. As you know, when you started it was not this easy; you had your own uncertainties; we have ours now. And if you see, we are just observing because this is new to some of us, but we know eventually we will get there, as you have done yourself. We are so proud of you.

I earlier said I know you have watchful eyes over us, you are looking at us but I must equally say we also are looking at you. You have inspired us. You have demonstrated that after all it is possible that we can leave where we are and go to where we want to be. So the expectations on my side are also high.

[SENATOR D. CHARRUE] We look towards you for guidance and for the kind of leadership role that we can see and follow. Yet again, I am proud of the people of Ghana and I am proud of this Parliament. Thank you very much.

An hon. Member : Mr. Speaker, if this

is a joint sitting of the Liberian Parliament and the Ghanaian Parliament, I have seen that our flag is conspicuously absent. I am wondering if our Ambassador did not facilitate that. We would want to know so that we take the proper steps. Thank you.

Rep. Elect Nohn R. Kidau COTOL

- District No.4 Nimba County): Mr. Speaker and hon. Members of the Ghanaian Parliament and my Colleagues, thank you so much for recognizing me. I am really touched today. I am really touched today because I remember that a little over two years ago we were here. We were here and you were trying to take away the guns from us and then you sent us back into the “bush” school to learn to co-exist. We have taken a major step in that direction. It only makes sense for Ghana to be the first place for us to come. We are coming out of the bush school,

Mr. Speaker, and we are here to show our faces, to learn from you and to go back with what you have taught us today, for all this week, so that we will be able to lift our country again out of the ashes of the civil war and join the comity of nations and take our rightful place again. Thank you so much. You have done your part and I pray that we also do our part so that peace can come to the sub-region. I thank you very much.

Senator Elect Clarice A. Jah Liberty

Party - Mike Ibe Country): Thank you Mr. Speaker, and hon. Members of both Parliaments. Now that we are here we address ourselves as Parliamentarians not legislators. We are very grateful to God. This is my second time in a House of Parliament. I came from the body of

four women, four honourable women, and this time around I am grateful to God that we have increased the number of women Parliamentarians back home.

We will love it if our female Parliamentarians would be kind enough to invite us here again, this time around only females, so that we see how best we can bring forth our agenda that affects us back in Liberia. We are grateful to God that this time around we have a female President but in order to move Liberia forward we cannot do without our honourable men. We need their help. We pray that this time around as God has kept us all undeveloped, when we have this opportunity to visit several other countries ( -- ) As I said, this is my second time --

And I hope we will be able to take back things to Liberia that will move us forward and stop being selfish. And once we are together, as the Professor said, getting under the flag, holding hands together, the next thing we give to Liberia will be that we are ready to move Liberia forward. And I still believe that we can move Liberia forward with God behind to help us.

So I would like to say thank you to my hon. Colleagues from Liberia and the hon. Members of Ghana for the opportunity afforded us.

Rep. Elect, Rev. George W. Blamoh

(COTOL - Country): Mr. Speaker, hon. Members of the Ghanaian Parliament and my colleagues from Liberia.

Mr. Speaker, I have a concern. From the

Statements of the Majority Leader and the Deputy Minority Leader, there is a system that is working in Ghana which operates

with three branches, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary. I also understand that a percentage Members of Parliament are appointed by the President as Ministers which means that there are some hon. Members here who are also Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers, if I am right. My concern is, how do you check the Executive in the regular running of the Government -- the check and balance system. While it is known in Africa that the Majority party always has its way in Parliament and the Minority would be crying foul -- I do not know. how I would want to understand how you check the Executive branch of Government under the check and balance system.

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Hon.
Members, it is not question Time but maybe those who make the presentations, if any of you could volunteer to react in a way to what I may consider to be a contribution.

Mr.

Very
well.
The Relevance of Committee Systems in Parliament
Majority Chief Whip (Mr. Osei Kyei-
Mensah-Bonsu): Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on October 11, some of us were in Liberia to observe their elections and on November 8 we were there again to observe the second round of elections. And may I start off by

congratulating Liberians on a good work done. We in Ghana, regardless of the fact that we pride ourselves as one of the pioneers in democracy in Africa, some of the things that happened there which were tolerated by the good people of Liberia, could not have happened here.

And I mention in particular the fact that during the first round, just before the first round of elections, on the day that we were supposed to have wound up the campaigns, there were four different political parties holding their rallies in Monrovia. We do not allow such things in Ghana. And the taunts and the jeers, which were taken in good faith by supporters and sympathizers of the various political parties parading the streets of Monrovia, I believe it was a very good lesson to all of us practising democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I have been tasked to talk

on the relevance of the Committee System in Parliament, and I intend not to spend too long a time.

Mr. Speaker, in Ghana, as in Liberia,

the work done by Parliament is varied in both subject matter and volume. The reality unfortunately, is that the time at the disposal of Parliament is often very limited. It is impossible, indeed, impracticable therefore to consider in great detail all the legislative, deliberative, informative, oversight of the Executive and other matters that come before Parliament. A good deal of business is therefore transacted in committees of the House known as Parliamentary Committees.

The composition, terms, powers,

functions and procedures for conducting business in committees are regulated by provisions of, in the case of Ghana, our Standing Orders, and in the case

of Liberia, by the Rules of Procedure, which are made under Chapter five of the Liberian Constitution. In Ghana they are made under article 103 of our Constitution as well as conventions and practices which are shaping the conduct of business at the committee level.

Broadly speaking, there are three kinds of committees, the Standing Committees, the Select Committees -- which in Ghana are departmentally related in nature -- and Special or ad hoc committees.

Mr. Speaker, Standing Committees

are appointed at the First Meeting of Parliament after the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speakers to deal with subjects of continuing concern to the House and inquire into matters over which no single Ministry has direct respon-sibility.

The Constitution of Ghana provides that every Member of Parliament must belong to at least one Standing Committee. Select Committees, as I have already indicated, are subject matter related committees, charged with the responsibility of scrutinizing policies, expenditures and management of agencies of the Constitution, that is the Executive, Ministries, Departments and Agencies. In other words, such Committees oversee the various arms of the Executive and other constitutionally created bodies. Every agency of the Executive is answerable to one of the Select Committees of Parliament.

Mr. Speaker, one may ask, and rightly so, what differences exist between these two types of Committees. In the Westminster jurisdiction -- and Mr. Speaker, I believe the Canadian, the South African and the Australian jurisdictions -- Standing Committees differ in their approach to business from the Select Committees. The Select Committees are

committees of enquiry, which proceed by the taking of evidence and reporting on their findings. Procedure in the former, that is Standing Committee is by way of debate. They are primarily meant to examine Bills at the committee stage in a prescribed manner and deal with Bills only, that is in respect of Standing Committees. The task is to improve a Bill rather than defeat it.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that explains why in Ghana a Member of Parliament is mandatory required to belong to a Standing Committee, because from where we borrowed our system, the Standing Committees deal with Bills and they have oversight over the Executive, and that is a pivotal of Members of Parliament.

Mr. Speaker, in Ghana both Standing and Select Committees can have Bills referred to them although it is rare to commit a Bill to the former except the Finance Committee, and with the creation of a Women and Children's Ministry, the Committee on Gender and Children. Mr. Speaker, I want to believe that the good people of Liberia may find it relevant to have a committee on women and children, or if so to call it, a committee on gender and children. As has already been explained, our Order 153 (1) obliges every Member to belong to at least one of the Standing committees of Parliament.

Mr. Speaker, the special or adhoc committees are appointed by the House to investigate any matter of public importance or any Bill that does not come under the jurisdiction of any of the Standing or Select committees. They cease to exist upon the completion of the task assigned to them.

Apart from all these we have the Committee of the Whole which consists of the entire Members of Parliament sitting in committee in the Chamber. It differs from the Sitting of the House itself in three main areas. One, the Mace, which is the symbol of authority of the House, is removed or is absent from its stand. A Member, when we have the House sitting in the Committee of the Whole, may speak more than once on the same question or on the same issue. Normally, the Speaker's Chair is vacant; by convention a Deputy Speaker presides. In the House of Commons, a Committee of the Whole is presided over by a Chairman nominated by the Speaker, who of course sits at the Table in the chair usually occupied by the Clerk of the House.

Mr. Speaker, at the First Meeting of every Session of Parliament, a Committee of Selection is appointed, in our jurisdiction, this committee of selection is chaired by the Speaker and it has not more than 19 other Members. This Committee prepares and reports lists of Chairmen, Vice-Chairmen, Ranking Members and all members of all the other Committees of the House. In the case of the special or adhoc committee, however, Members could be nominated by the Speaker and or the Leadership. Mr. Speaker, even though Members may indicate their preference for specific committees, the Committee of Selection determines the composition and membership of various committees based on five main considerations. One, we consider the different shades of opinions represented in the House, that is the numerical strengths of the caucuse; two, we consider regional representation; three, we consider professional expertise; gender representation is the fourth issue that we consider and, of course, the interests of the individual Members of Parliament, among other prime considerations.

M r. S p e a k e r, t h e C o m m i t t e e of Selection is the one that is tasked

Mr. Speaker, de l ibera t ions of committees are basically informal and non-partisan; a Member can speak more than once on any issue at the committee level. Questions are determined by majority votes of Members present and voting. The chairman has only a casting vote. The reality, Mr. Speaker, is that most often around 85 per cent of questions at committee level are usually settled by unanimity or consensus; only very few matters are put to a vote.
Committees of Parliament are serviced by officers of Parliament known as Committee Clerks. The Clerks advise the committees on procedural matters and prepare minutes and draft reports for the consideration of the committees. This they do in consultation and in collaboration with the Committee Chairpersons and often with the collaboration of the Ranking Members.
Mr. Speaker, in Ghana there are 16 Standing Committees. These are the Committee of Selection, the Standing Order Commit tee , the Bus iness Committee, the Committee on Privileges, the Public Accounts Committee, which has been highlighted already, the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Finance Committee, the Appointments Committee as well as the Committee on Members Holding Offices of Profit.

Others are Committee on Government Assurances, the Committee on Gender and Children, the House Committee and the Special Budget Committee; and finally, the Petitions Committee.

Mr. Speaker, permit me to delve a little

bit into the Judiciary Committee, which in Ghana's case was created by the Third Parliament of our Fourth Republic. It is mandated to consider all matters relating to the Judiciary generally, including its budgetary estimates. It considers nominations for appointment of the Chief Justice and other Justices of the Superior Courts of Judicature.

Mr. Speaker, we have the Appointments Committee composed of the First Deputy Speaker as Chairman, and not more than twenty-five Members. The Committee recommends to Parliament for approval or otherwise, persons nominated by the President for appointment as Ministers of State and their Deputies, Members of the Council of State and such other persons specified under the Constitution or other enactments.

Mr. Speaker, may I say this that unfortunately since 1992, when we had the Fourth Republican Parliament, the Appointments Committee has never considered the nominations of the President for the Council of State. Since 1993 this Parliament has not done that. I am not in the position to know why Parliament has reneged on this very important function, that is the Appointments Committee has relented on this important function. Unfortunately, the issue has never been raised in Parliament.

Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Members Holding Offices of Profit is a unique creation by Ghana's Parliament. It advises the Speaker on the request by Members, Ministers of State and their Deputies for permission to hold offices of profit or emolument provided that holding such offices will not prejudice their official work.

Then we have the Committee on Government Assurances. Questions are posed to hon. Ministers and they come and give assurances. We have created a

Committee on Government Assurances to pursue assurances, promises and undertakings given by hon. Ministers at plenary, from time to time. That is to make sure that hon. Ministers do not come to the plenary and give empty promises.

As I indicated, the Committee on Gender and Children, a new creation - and I believe that we may commend it to the Liberian National Assembly.

And we have another new creation, which is the Special Budget Committee. This is also another baby of the Third Parliament. It is chaired by the Majority Leader with the Minority Leader as the Vice-Chair. It consists of nineteen other members. It considers the budget of Parliament and other constitutional independent bodies, including, in our case, The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHIRAJ), the Electoral Commission (EC), and the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE).

Mr. Speaker, the Select Committees are, as I have indicated already, departmentally related. So in Ghana, we have the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Committee on Lands and Forestry, Committee on Health, Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Committee on Works and Housing, Committee on Local Government and Rural Development, Commit tee on Communica t ions , Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises, Committee on Defence and Interior, Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism, Committee on Environment, Science and Technology, Committee on Education, Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture, Committee on Mines and Energy and Committee on Roads and Transport.

Mr. Speaker, committees enable the Legislature to scrutinize the activities of the Executive most closely. Business of the House, as I have already indicated, is often constrained by time, hence the reference of a matter to a committee allows for sufficient time to delve deeper into the matter and make appropriate recommendations for consideration of the plenary.This way, the committees assist the House to perform its oversight function effectively and thereby hold Government to account.
Mr. Speaker, another merit of the committee system is that it enables Members to gain experience of a subject so as to exert influence that they would not otherwise have. In this way, Mr. Speaker, they specialise in their fields. It is for this reason that even though the Standing Orders provide for the reconstitution of committees at the beginning of each session, in other words, at the beginning of each parliamentary year, committees once composed are often left to travel the life of Parliament. Generally, work done in committees is less partisan than on the floor.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that one may have to commend the workings of our Parliament to our brothers and sisters from Liberia because having been there on two
occasions, I realized that the problems besetting and confronting the people of Liberia are very enormous and they need to collaborate at the committee level in pursuit of what is best; that is what is in the national interest.
Mr. Speaker, the realization of the full potential of parliamentary committees could be constrained by limited budgetary provision, access to information, inadequate technical support and, above all, the absence of suitable meeting rooms and offices. And in this case, Mr. Speaker, just like we in Ghana know that the very high attrition or turnover of Members of Parliament negatively impinge on the development of committees, one may again commend to the good people of Liberia that they should let their Members of Parliament who have come gain the requisite experience.

It is very difficult and very expensive to train and bring up a Member of Parliament and once the nation has spent so much we should not be in a hurry to get rid of them and replace them with new Members.

Mr. Speaker, a very experienced, diligent committee member or chairperson is a veritable asset to the Parliament of any country. As Prof. Chanwoopak of the Department of Political Science at Seoul National University in South Korea has observed, committees in he Legislature are workshops or mini-legislatures because of their distinctive contributions in their performance of various legislative functions. A specialized committee system enables a Legislature to review policies more soundly and expertly than would be possible at the plenary level.

Mr. Speaker, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States of America, himself an accomplished political scientist, observed over a century ago that the committee system is the very heart of law-making process of the United States of America. Indeed, these observations sum up the critical role of committees to the success of any Parliament and it is my hope that the committee system in our Parliament and, indeed, in the Parliament of Liberia, maybe enabled, not least, through the provision of resources and logistics to perform their role assigned to them by the Constitution and their own rules of procedure that they might have fashioned out for themselves.

Mr. Speaker, hon. Colleagues, I thank you very much for your rapt attention.

Hon. Members, that is the presentation on “The committees” from the Majority Chief Whip of the Ghanaian Parliament. It is for

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, hon. Members of the joint Sitting of the Parliaments of the Republic of Ghana and the Republic of Liberia, I am exceedingly gratified by the warm reception and hospitality accorded us since our arrival in Accra, especially in this unique Chamber. I notice with enthusiasm the manner in which the female Parliamentarians of the Republic of Ghana have received their counterparts from the Republic of Liberia.
We are concerned about the global effort for gender equity and that is why we in Liberia have taken the initial steps to make what appears to be almost impossible on the continent of Africa, that is to elect the first female President - [Hear! Hear!] So we want to assure our female Colleagues that we have transcended that boundary to set the pace for our sister African countries to follow. We want to allay your fears, hon. Female Parliamentarians of Ghana, that we would exert every effort to make sure that we achieve the goal of gender equity, and that is why some of us are very happy that we have the opportunity to interact with you; and we are gaining from this interaction.
We want to be thankful to GIMPA for their assistance to us in orientating us to the workings of Parliament. We are very glad and we would remain grateful to you. Thank you very much.

Mr. Speaker, this is to the hon. Majority Whip and I would like to pose a challenge to him or rather a question to him. He mentioned a budget committee but he did not mention the function of the budget committee so I would like to, please, get some clarification on that.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to put a little emphasis on the work of the Appointments Committee just to supplement what the hon. Majority Chief Whip said.
Mr. Speaker, as a Member who has served on he Appointments Committee of this House for three terms, I would like to say that this is one of the most important committees that this House has. Indeed, it is a committee that is supposed to be one of the checks on Executive influence because what it means is that the representatives of the people are the ones who must approve persons that are appointed into positions in the Executive. So the work of this particular committee is very important.
In Ghana, over the years, the interest of the public in the work of this committee has increased multiple times and, Mr. Speaker, that is because of the amount of media coverage that has been given to this committee. And I would like to note that, Mr. Speaker, you are the Chairman of this Committee and you have chaired this committee for the last three terms and I have been very happy to serve under you.
Me. Speaker, in Ghana today anytime the Appointments Committee is going to sit, the various Frequency Modulation (FM) stations cover the proceedings of this particular committee live and any time an appointment is made by the Executive the interest that the public takes in terms of presenting memoranda to the committee is very phenomenal. As soon as an appointment is made of somebody, people from various parts of this country who know the person well suddenly start coming up with petitions and other things about the person.
Mr. Speaker, I am told that in recent times when the President has called some people and said; we want to appoint you to this position,” they say, “oh! Mr. President, I am sorry but I would like to remain in my private corner somewhere”. That is because people have taken an interest in the quality of people who occupy positions in this country. I do not know what the equivalent committee in the Liberia Parliament would be, whether it would still be called the Appointment Committee or whether they have a committee like that at all. But if they do not have, that might be a committee they would consider appointing.
In our case, it has been effective but suddenly because of the proportion of the Majority to the Minority, in almost all cases if the committee is divided as to whether to approve the nominee or not, more often than not, the Majority would carry the day; but when that happens it means it is a split decision; it means that it was not unanimous; and what is done is this: It is brought onto the floor of the House and the nominee is subjected to a full-blown debate of the House, after which a secret ballot is taken to decide whether the nominee should be approved or not.
This process is to open that I think that for most people who have a past or have something that they do not want to come into the public domain, they would rather decline an appointment than go through that kind of procedure when the people's representatives very thoroughly screen them. I just wanted to add these few words to the part concerning the Appointments Committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Vinicius Hodges(Liberty Represen- tative): On a point of clarification. Mr. Speaker, my hon. Colleague wondered

whether we have a committee there. In Liberia we have two Chambers. We have the Upper Chamber which is the Senate. They are clothed with the authority of screening and vetting Cabinet appointees by the President. So in the Lower House which is the House of Representatives, which I am a member of, we do not have that authority. It is the House of Senate that has that authority. It is just a clarification. Mr. Speaker, thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you very much, you and hon. Members of the Ghanaian Parliament, and the entire Ghanaian Government. I would say here today that I could recall there was a time when Liberian citizens and Government officials were invited to Accra in a group like this. Some people would be in a hotel whilst others would be in another hotel. But today I am happy that, at least, we are all together at this time.
For some of us this is not our first time in Accra. We were here in 2003, we were here again sometime in 2004. There is an experience I want to share with you, Mr. Speaker, and I am hoping that this Parliament would help us address this.
The ongoing Parliament in Liberia is seen to be exposed to public ridicule, perhaps out of ignorance, on a simple issue. There are people arguing that by January 16th the current Members of Parliament of Liberia are supposed to
evacuate their capital buildings, park their vehicles, turn the keys over to the security and go on the road and charter taxis to go to their houses. So I would like Mr. Speaker, prior to our departure, if you can get close together to see how best you think Parliament can acquire the logistics for the Members of the House of Parliament, such that when their time expires they will not be exposed to the disgrace that people intend to expose our Colleagues to.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to register a short footnote on the discussion. Mr. Speaker, I intend to touch on, perhaps, a rather taboo issue for African Parliaments, and yet at the same time I think it is a very important area for the new Parliament of Liberia. And that has to do with the oversight of the security sector that members of that Committee would be performing in the new Parliament of Liberia.
Certainly, Liberia would be put in a better position in terms of oversight of its security sector agencies, and this comes immediately from the type of post-conflict situation that Liberia is experiencing.
The security sector in most African countries has always been the particular sector that defies oversight, to a very large extent. But given the peculiar situation of the post-conflict conditions I guess that there are a number of examples in other Parliaments in Africa that the Liberian Parliament and the security sector committees can learn from. You will know next door in Sierra Leone, they are already blazing a very, very useful trail in terms of the security sector reform that ensures democratic governance of the security sector and actually ensures the respect for fundamental human rights of the citizens.
A post-conflict situation is also a very
important open moment that provides the prerequisites for a departure to democratic oversight over the security sector and I think the Liberians should take advantage of this situation. Even with the difficulties of the DBR initiatives in Liberia, one hopes that the security sector committee will take advantage of the fact that they have opted for a multi-party democratic system to ensure that oversight over the security sector is engendered and that they should not suffer some of the bottlenecks that so-called older democracies in the sub-region and Africa are experiencing in relation to oversight of that sector.

Mr. Speaker, once more I want to contribute to, let us say, the delivery made by the Majority Chief Whip, with respect to specialisation in terms of committees. I think it would just be good for my hon. Colleagues and me to understand, as we leave Ghana and go over to Liberia, that at the time we start our Appointments Committee would be reporting for people to be placed in the rightful areas. During the course of this workshop there was emphasis laid on competence, there was emphasis laid on care and so on. But I come from a security background and I am also happy that there may be an exception about the security sector reform.
Fortunately for this new Parliament, as a former member of the NTGL - and I am still a member of the NTGL and at the same time on the Security Sector Reform Committee. This is a confederation of all male - the Governor of Liberia and other international stakeholders. We intend to ensure that the security sector is made pluralistic to reflect ethnic balance, geographical balance, and all of that because these are some of the problems that got us to where we were in the past.
Additionally, I would want to urge my hon. Colleagues that when we get back to Liberia, the various committees -- he talked about budgeting - People should be placed in areas where they can perform best. If you come from a security background, go to the security committee. Your contribution would be meaningful in Liberia. If you come from the background of economics, if you come from the background of electricity, if you come from the background of engineering, that is one of the things that you must think of first.
When you left us to go to the United States to study American democracy, I thought, putting emphasis on the uniqueness of the American political system, where you emphasised on the doctrine of separation of powers, you said people should make contributions in areas where they can best contribute. So we are happy to note here that we take acue from all these exceptions and we hope that we would have a fine time.

Mr. Speaker, I, first of all, would like to thank our Liberian Colleagues who have seen it prudent to come here. Out of all the countries in Africa they have seen Ghana as a model or as a second home. I say this because from the time of their war, most of them chose Ghana as a home. They were here, we received them and we loved them so much; and I think that they have really appreciated it and I want to thank them for being so grateful. Mr. Speaker, they have shown that they are really grateful for all that we have done for them and they really chose Ghana again to come and learn about us; to come and copy the good things that we do. I am really very grateful and I want to thank them and thank all their leaders back home and to say that we are proud of them. I think everybody in Ghana would like to support them to let them be like us. I think that if
somebody does not like you he would not like to be like you. So we love you, we like you, and we would always support you, if only we can.
But I just want to pray and also add to all those who are calling for peace in Liberia. It is my primary worry and I want to echo once again that I love peace because I like Liberia. I would love peace to prevail in Liberia. I would like to see you unite more. I want to thank my brother sitting on my left for saying that this time around, they have come together and they have united, and they do things in common. It is unique and that is how you can build Liberia. I want to say that please, let peace prevail so that you can build your country. Without peace Liberia cannot be built and without peace you yourselves will not enjoy. How do you enjoy? You cannot build your home. And if you do not have a good home, how will you stay there? And your children will not benefit from your toil and sweat.
So, Mr. Speaker, I also want to add that we in Ghana are very, very important. We in Ghana have seen Liberia as very important, in the sense that they have been able to choose a woman, at least, as the first woman President of Africa.

We are very, very proud of them and Mr. Speaker, I want them to convey our gratitude to their President and also call on the men to give Madam Ellen Johnson Surleaf all the needed support she needs so that she will be able to govern Liberia well and take them out of the poverty they are in so that Liberia will build and be rich so that one day I or any of my Colleagues finds herself or himself in Liberia he or she would be so pleased with it. Men, we are calling on you to help Ellen Johnson

Hon. Members, that will bring us to the end of this interesting debate. Now, we call on the Majority Leader to wind up.

Mr. Speaker, I believe this has been a very useful exercise. There were two questions that came on the floor, one dealing with the Special Budget Committee.
The Special Budget Committee became necessary because there are some autonomous or independent bodies which are not supposed to work through the Executive and therefore to give meaning to that Parliament decided that there should be a Special Budget Committee that would handle budgets from such bodies like the Electoral Commission, the Media Commission, the National Council for Civic Education and bodies of that nature which are supposed to be independent or what we call autonomous bodies and that we can give meaning that they are not working under the Executive. Therefore, it was decided that Parliament should establish a Special Budget Committee that would be handling their budgets like the Auditor General and things like that.
The second issue that came up was the one dealing with the hybrid. Mr. Speaker, contrary to what my hon. Colleague, the Minority Leader said that there is a new name for it I believe that the problem of the hybrid; is that it is the two sides that are put together to become the hybrid and that is what is happening. But seriously speaking, this is home-grown and it came from the Ghanaian experience. We had practised the total Westminister type; it failed. We had practised the total American type; it failed. So we decided that why do you not put the two together and take the best; and
out of it we got the Constitution.
The Ministers who are appointed are Members of Parliament (MPs) first, and the Constitution says that not less than 50 per cent of Ministers of State should be Members of Parliament; and it is not that they are Ministers who have been appointed as MPs. It is the MPs who have been appointed as Ministers.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I think my Colleague the Minority Leader was right when he said that the Liberia Constitution is very straight and clear. Mr. Speaker, on a more serious note let me refer to article 52 of the Liberia Constitution, and

“No person shall be eligible to hold the office of President or Vice President unless that person is
(a) a natural born Liberian citizen of not less than 35 years of age, and more importantly (b), the owner of an immovable property valued at not less than twenty five thousand dollars - I think this is a property owning democracy -- [Uproar].
Mr. Speaker, the third requirement is that you have been resident in the Republic 10 years prior to your election, provided that the President and the Vice President shall not come from the same county. I believe that property owning democracy has been clearly accepted here and it has a very good advantage that a person with property valued at that much will definitely not run away and leave the country behind because he has a property to protect. He will definitely be more concerned about good laws for the country. Mr. Speaker, I believe that this is the right time for us to move for the adjournment, sine die -- [interruption.] Mr. Speaker may have to make some few remarks first.

Thank you
Majority and Minority Leaders - indeed all Members -- for this very interesting Sitting. Definitely it is historic in the sense that in the history of this country this is the first time that we have had all Members of the Legislature from another country to be with us here. We have learnt from each other. It has been said by you all. I have heard some of you, particularly from Liberia, say that you will not let us down. Definitely not Ghanaians, you will not let yourselves down.
Definitely, there is no substitute for democracy. It is good. It has a big appeal and that may be the way forward for prosperity and progress. Ghana, of course, has maybe taken the lead.We are not yet out of the woods. We are still in transition. You will join us. When we join each other the way forward is clear and we will rely on each other because we are from the same region.
Sitting here, it is very difficult for me to tell the difference except when you rise to make a speech then of course through the intonation one could guess. Please, we are together to represent the people - not just the people of Liberia but the people -- Ghana and the sub-region and Africa together. We are hoping that we will not let ourselves down.
This has been a very interesting and historic meeting and we all hope that we all have learnt. On behalf of this House, on behalf of the people of this country, I want to thank you for finding time to come here. People have expressed it. I also thank all Ghanaians, the Members of Parliament and all those who have made it possible for you to be here, particularly those of us today who have had time to come and stay, determined, and participated. I thank you all and may God bless all of us.
Now I will call on the hon. Majority Leader to move for the adjournment.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do adjourn sine die.

Mr. Speaker, I second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.

Hon. Members, before you rise let me give you a little information. The House, the Leadership and Members of the Ghanaian Parliament have asked that you continue the exchanges by attending a small dinner that has been organized for you. Please, hon. Members, from both ncountries may stay and have dinner with each other.
Thank you very much.