Doe Adjaho Elected As Speaker Of The Six Ghana Parliament

The Sixth Parliament of the Fourth Republic at thirty minutes past twelve midnight (12:30 am) today, the 7th day of January, 2013 elected Doe Adjaho as Speaker. Mr Adjaho who happens to be the youngest ever produced replaces Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford Addo as Speaker.

Soon after the election, the new Speaker was duly sworn into office by the Chief Justice Theodora Wood. Hon. Doe Adjaho who until  his election was the MP-elect for Akatsi South Constituency in the Volta region would be assisted by the Former Deputy Attorney General and MP for Cape Coast North, Ebo Barton Odro as well as  NPP’s MP for Essikado/Ketan, Joe Ghartey  as First and Second Deputy Speakers respectively.

By his election, Hon. Adjaho vacated his seat in accordance with Article 97 (1) b which stipulates that “a Member shall vacate his seat in Parliament if he is officially sworn in as the Speaker of Parliament. Hon. Adjaho rose through the ranks in Parliament, becoming a Minority Chief Whip, Deputy Minority Leader, one time member of the Pan-African Parliament before attaining his current position as the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament.

In an acceptance speech to occupy the third highest seat of Ghana, Hon Edward Doe Adjaho called on MPs to be patriotic and bring out their nationalism to work towards developing the country. Edward Korbly Doe Adjaho was born 3 January 1957. He is a barrister-at-Law.

He is one of the few politicians who have retained their seats in parliament throughout the fourth republic of Ghana. Adjaho studied at the University of Ghana where he obtained the LL.B. degree in 1984 before proceeding to the Ghana School of Law where he trained to become a Barrister-at-Law in 1986. He worked at the Attorney-General's department before turning to politics.

He stood on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress in the Ghanaian parliamentary election, 1992 and has retained his seat in all four subsequent elections.
He is a Christian and is married with four children. His family hails from Wlitey in the Volta Region of Ghana. Meanwhile Hon. Benjamin Kumbuor, MP elect for Nandom has also been selected as the majority leader replacing Cletus Avoka.

Hon. Alfred Agbesi ,MP elect for Ashaiman, constituency also replaces Rashid Purpose as Deputy Majority leader with Former Sports Minister Muntaka Mubarak as the new Majority Chief Whip. Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, on the other hand remains the Minority Leader in Parliament, and he is being assisted by Hon. Dominic B. A. Nitiwul, MP for Bimbilla.

Source: ISD (Gilbert Ankrah)