Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye has been sworn in as Speaker of the Seventh Parliament under the Fourth Republic.

He was unanimously elected after the Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu presented his candidature to the House.

He was sworn into office by the chief justice Theodora Georgina Wood during the wee hours of Saturday, January 07, 2017.

In his acceptance speech, Prof. Oquaye described his return to the House as “home coming” and called on the experienced ones to assist the new MPs. He promised “to be fair to all” to succeed in office.

He will be assisted by Joe Osei Owusu (1st deputy speaker) and Alban Bagbin (2nd deputy speaker).

President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo moments after his swearing-in tweeted:

Background

Aaron Mike Oquaye was born April 4, 1944. He is a Ghanaian politician who served as the Second Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana between 2009 and 2013.

A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he was the MP for Dome-Kwabenya from 2005 to 2013.

He was Ghana’s High Commissioner to India to India from 2001 to 2004, then Minister of Energy from 2005 to 2006 and Minister of Communications from 2006 to 2009.