On January 7, 2021, our democracy dodged a bullet. It averted a crisis that had the capacity to grind the moving wheels of our nearly three-decade constitutional rule to a halt. In hindsight, it was a close shave.
As is conventional parliamentary practice since 1993, newly elected Members of Parliament convene at midnight of January 7 to organize themselves for the first time ahead of the swearing-in of the president-elect.
The constitution clearly directs that no business shall be conducted in the House until a Speaker has been elected. This implies that until a Speaker has been elected, sworn into office and administers the oath to MPs-elect present, Parliament is not duly constituted.
Worthy of note are recent challenges to election results and validity of MPs-elect that have become commonplace.
It is against this backdrop of disagreements and speaker election uncertainty that the fisticuffs that characterized the genesis of the 8th Parliament arose.
In fact with barely an hour to daybreak, it was unclear if Mr. Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia would be sworn into office. They had to do it before Parliament and Parliament could not get its act together to conduct its very first business: Choosing a speaker.
Eventually, the opposition’s nominee, Mr. Alban Bagbin won the protracted speaker election and was subsequently sworn into office by a Chief Justice who moments earlier, had been whisked away from the legislature’s premises amidst the scuffles and unparliamentary gimmicks that was happening in the chamber.
If Parliament had been unable to conduct the election of speaker that day, the inauguration of Mr. Akufo-Addo and his vice would not have happened. Then we would have had on our hands a constitutional crisis.
The practice right now creates the impression that the constitution of a new parliament in the wee hours of January 7 is a foregone conclusion. We know now that in a highly charged political environment, unforeseeable hurdles could handicap proceedings as was the case four years ago.
To address this, we can start by revisiting the much-touted Presidential Transitions Act (2012), which directs that the new speaker of the succeeding parliament be elected two days before the current parliament is dissolved.
It is odd that that provision has been set aside for the fourth consecutive occasion.
In the long term, we could look closely at revisiting that particular provision to allow for more time between the inauguration of a new parliament and swearing-in of the president-elect.
It will create a timeline where the incoming president’s key ministerial nominees are considered and approved by the House even before he takes office, just like it is done in the United States.
Giving the Parliament ample time to elect a speaker days before the new president comes on board will further avert a situation where a deadlocked legislature chokes our democracy with parliamentary grandstanding and brinkmanship.
Leaders on both sides would also have some breathing space to come to an agreement when issues of member eligibility and uncertain speaker elections threaten to derail our democratic experiment unlike a ‘do or die’ January 7 scenario.
As our democracy thrives, we must prepare for it an insurance policy by introducing reforms that will make it even better.
Now, January 7 is probably the most celebrated day since the 4th Republic and right so. There is a lot to celebrate. However, it may yet become our doomsday if we do not act timely to alleviate the undue burden heaped on it.
Simply put, our 32-year democracy cannot be hinged on what could happen in one day.
