Minority Leader calls for amendment to have Parliament initiate its own laws

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The Minority Leader in Parliament Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu is urging the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee to amend the law which prevents Parliament from initiating its own laws.

According to Article 108 of the 1992 Constitution, Parliament cannot on its own initiate laws unless it is laid by an external body or emanating from the executive.

But Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu argued such a position weakens the role of legislature in formulating laws as a major arm of government.

"Parliament is a law making body or institution. Unfortunately by the prescription of Article 108 in our Constitution, Parliament is not being liberated on its own to initiate laws.

"That to me is unfair to our Parliament," he lamented.

He said calls for successive speakers to give a "purposeful interpretation" to that provision have proven futile.

"It is one defect that may have to redressed by a constitutional review process," he pointed out.

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