PUBLIC LECTURE: Hon Joe Ghartey holds audience spellbound in Abuja
Oru Leonard
Former Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament and former Attorney – General and Minister of Justice, Hon Joe Ghartey held his audience spell bound for close to three hours, when he addressed them on Ghana’s Parliament in Abuja Nigeria on Monday, 25, March 2024. Hon Joe Ghartey who was invited by the National Institute for Legislative & Democratic Sudies of the National Assembly of Nigeria, to deliver a lecture on ‘The Parliament of Ghana’ to postgraduate students undertaking the module, Modern Parliaments, mesmerizing the packed audience with his in-depth knowledge of the workings of Parliamentary systems. Relying on his own experience as a five-term legislator of Ghana’s Parliament, a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, as well as a former Deputy Speaker, Hon Joe Ghartey brought his presentation alive by the several examples he gave on the issues he addressed.
He spoke about the legislature during the colonial era, saying that it was mainly advisory and did not have the characteristics of a modern Parliament. Hon Ghartey then spoke about the immediate post independence era, focusing on the role of the legislature under the Independence Constitution, the 1960, First Republican Constitution and also touched on the 1964 amendment to the 1960 Constitution, which made Ghana a One Party State and banned all political party except the Convention Peoples Party.
He then compared and contrasted the provisions of the 1969 Constitution and the 1979 Constitution, emphasising the provisions on Parliament.
The provisions of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which is currently in force, was discussed in detail by Hon Joe Ghartey.
The former Minister of Railway Development in Ghana also discussed the various roles of Parliament including; representational, legislative, financial, oversight and development.
In his closing remarks, Professor Abubakar O Sulaiman, the Director General of the National Institute For Legislative & Democratic Studies (NILDS), which is a part of the National Assembly of Nigeria, said that he had come to the presentation originally intending to spend a few minutes, but he had become so enthralled by the delivery that he stayed to the end.
He said he was a former Minister of Planning of the Federal Republic of Nigeria he had also held several positions in the public sector, and listening to Hon Ghartey it became clear to him that Hon Joe Ghartey was a man of great experience. He also noted that there were several unique aspects of Ghana’s Constitution that were worthy of study and emulation. He concluded by emphasising the importance of Parliaments in democracy.
He said Hon Joe Ghartey was the first international Parliamentary Scholar who had been invited to give a lecture at their degree and post graduate degree awarding institution which was established by an Act of Parliament and which was an integral part of the National Assembly of Nigeria.
