The Parliamentary Service Board has named Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror as the next Clerk of Parliament.
This decision was made during a special meeting in November 2024, where three deputy clerks were considered for the role.
The appointment comes ahead of the retirement of the current Clerk, Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah, who will step down on February 2, 2025, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60.
Djietror, a highly experienced legal professional, has dedicated many years to parliamentary service. He has served as Clerk at the Table of the House and supported numerous committees, including those focused on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs, Judiciary, Business, and Foreign Affairs.
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who also chairs the Parliamentary Service Board, has issued Djietror’s appointment, set to begin on January 1, 2025. Nsiah will proceed on his annual leave starting December 31, 2024.
Djietror is tasked with leading key parliamentary events, including the swearing-in of newly elected Members of Parliament and the Speaker on January 7, 2025. As one of the longest-serving and most experienced procedural clerks, he is well-prepared to manage parliamentary operations effectively.
The Speaker is expected to formally announce Djietror’s appointment to Parliament before the House adjourns for the Christmas holidays.
A person who used to work in an office and wouldn’t give a marriage paper to a same-sex couple has been told by a judge to give money to the lawyers of one couple.
Kim Davis was told by a jury last year that she broke the law by not letting a Kentucky couple get married.
On Tuesday, she was told to pay $260,000 in fees and an additional $100,000 for damages she already owed.
Ms Davis went to jail for a short time in 2015 because she didn’t follow the US Supreme Court‘s decision to make same-sex marriage legal.
She said she didn’t give the couple a marriage license because she thinks marriage should only be between a man and a woman. She mentioned her religious beliefs as an evangelical Christian.
Her lawyers said the legal costs were too high, but the judge disagreed and said Ms Davis has to pay because they won the case.
Judge David Bunning said the couple wanted to prove their right to get married and they did it.
Judge Bunning is the same judge who sent her to jail in 2015 because she refused to give out marriage licenses. This was seen as disrespecting the court.
She got out of jail because her staff helped with getting the licenses she needed.
Ms Davis asked the highest court in the US to hear her case in 2020, but they said no.
MrErmhold is running for the position of county clerk, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Ms Davis did not win the election to be the clerk of Rowan County in 2018.
Sam Nartey George, the representative for Ningo-Prampram, has claimed that the adoption of the three new tax legislation on Friday in parliament was not approved by the minority.
He claims that it is necessary to examine the clerk of parliament about how they were able to obtain 137 despite Ahmed Tuferu’s absence due to an injury.
On the basis of the information the clerk gave the speaker, he continued, the majority won the vote with 137 votes, hence he was not to be held responsible.
According to him, the minority would not have had to participate in the vote process if the revenue bill had been approved by consensus.
“If we had acquiesced, we wouldn’t have gone through with the vote, we wouldn’t have accounted for our 136, we wouldn’t have challenged what appeared to be an error in counting. We are aware now that at the time we did the first count, Ahmed Tuferu was not in Parliament.
“There are two [majority] MPs who also walked in after the clerks had finished taking the vote from the majority side, so clearly, that vote shouldn’t have read 136, 137, but be that as it may, the Speaker only announces what it is presented to him.
“The clerks have a question to answer as to how they managed to get 137,” he is quoted to have said by CitiTV.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament has explained why the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nanton Constituency, Northern Region, Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru, was counted despite being absent in the chamber during voting.
According to him, the leaders reported that the MP was incapacitated by some physical infirmity, and based on this, the MPs, including doctor Dickson Adamako Kissi who accompanied the MP, were counted and accordingly recorded.
Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru is reported to have been involved in an accident, preventing him from participating in the head count vote in the chamber.
Following this development, the Minority Chief Whip, Govern Agbogza, quizzed the speaker about why he counted 137 from the majority side of the house despite the absence of two.
Govern Agbodza said, “When we took the last vote, you counted 137 for our colleagues. Some members of the public are aware that two of our colleagues were not physically present here, I think it will be appropriate for you to make a pronouncement so that the public knows why you still counted 137.”
In response, the speaker said, “…that is why I referred you to Order 114 rule 4, and asked you to read that order, but for the education of the public, I will read that order.
“Order 114 rule 4 says for members who are incapacitated by some physical infirmity from passing through the lobbies shall upon reporting their incapacitate to the speaker though the clerk, be counted and recorded accordingly in the house.
“We have some of our members that are incapacitated and what I did was to ask the clerk to go and physically see them, the state of incapacitating, whether they are of sound mind because we are dealing with the decision taken, voting before they can come to testify; which has been done and so they recorded and counted accordingly.”
