There are strong indications that the Fifth Parliament of the Fourth Republic will have the first female Speaker of Parliament in the country’s history. A retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo is widely tipped to be the next Speaker of the House. She was the first Supreme Court Judge to voluntarily retire in the Kufuor Administration following some controversies relating to her Junior of the Bench, Justice George Kingsley Acquah, being appointed the Chief Justice. Her resignation in July 2003 was in the wake of the controversy that greeted the appointment of Justice George Kingsley Acquah, when all fingers pointed at her as the senior-most member of the bench after Justice Edward Wiredu had left on health grounds. The appointment of Justice Acquah had incurred the displeasure of some members of the then opposition NDC, who argue that such an obvious choice should not have been bypassed. Said to be a woman of intellect and principle, Mrs Bamford-Addo is fingered by bigwigs in the NDC as the favourite for the position. The Member of Parliament for Nadowli, Mr. Alban Bagbin, said a woman was favoured by the party for the job. His comments have been confirmed by the MP for Tamale Central, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini. Another woman who has been tipped for the post is Mrs Betty-Mould Idrisu, wife of Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu who vied for the flag-bearership of the party with now president-elect, Prof. Mills. Mrs. Idrisu was in the news last year when the party was in dire need of someone to partner Professor Mills as his running-mate. The 55-year-old wife of the one-time Defence Minister holds a Master of Law degree from the London School of Economics, a Bachelor of Law from the Ghana School of Law and an LLB from the University of Ghana. She had since 2003 worked with the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat as the Chief Legal Advisor and in-house Counsel to the Commonwealth Secretary-General and the Secretariat. Before that appointment she was with Ghana's Ministry of Justice where she headed the Industrial Property Law Division. Daily Guide sources suggest that a lot of invisible hands in the party may be pushing her bid, just as they did for the running-mate slot. Before settling on the two, the party initially seriously considered the options of Ken Dzirasah and Alban Bagbin, but they were all shelved for obvious reasons although some believe Mr. Dzirasah could bounce back as a result of his wealth of experience in Parliamentary proceedings, having been MP for 16 years. But none of the men stands any real chance of getting the job. Story by Malik Abass Daabu