Clerk to Parliament, Mr. Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah, has stated that the Hansard is the true record of Parliamentary proceedings that also reflects the stature of the House as exhibited in the standard and quality of debates.
The Hansard, he said, is the storage facility of the image of Parliament and indicated that while an Act of Parliament is the letter of the law as passed by the House, the spirit and intent of the law are contained in the Hansard.
He spoke at the opening ceremony of a six-month training programme for Hansard reporters at the Governmental Secretarial School in Cantonments in Accra on Monday 2nd August 2021.
According to him, the Hansard is the Official Report of Parliament and could be tendered in court as evidence in the adjudication of a matter of controversy concerning deliberations on the floor of Parliament.
Mr. Cyril Nsiah noted that it is therefore important that the Official Report of Parliament is processed by officers who are well-versed in Parliamentary practices and proceedings, have command over the English Language and have the ability to understand complex arguments.
He said, “The recruitment of Parliamentary Reporters at this time is therefore critical to the work of Parliament, particularly having regard to the fact that the adoption of the revised Standing Orders of the House will require parliamentary Committees to open their sittings to the public.”
“This necessarily obligates Committees to take evidence at every meeting and keep a strict record of proceedings, except otherwise directed by the Chairperson.”
“It is prudent, therefore, that a number of Parliamentary Reporters are attached to each Parliamentary Committee to facilitate the documentation of proceedings at Committee sittings,” he added.
The services of Parliamentary Reporters, he said, are also required in the preparation of transcripts/reports of parliamentary conferences, briefings and special parliamentary programmes in accordance with the appropriate procedural and Hansard style guidelines.
Mr. Cyril Nsiah stated that the training of Parliamentary Reporters prior to the assumption of duty is therefore vital due to the specialised skills and processes involved in capturing near-verbatim reports of occurrences on the floor of Parliament while ensuring adherence to the rules of grammar, Parliamentary Practices and Procedure, as well as the House Style of the Department of Official Report.
He noted that the six-month training programme will inculcate in the trainees, the qualities of objectivity of approach, precision, promptness and dedicated service, which are attributes Parliamentary Reporters must possess to perform their duties and roles effectively.
He expressed hope that by the end of the six month period, the trainees would be amply equipped with the requisite skills and capacity to discharge their responsibilities effectively and efficiently.
The Principal of the Government Secretarial School (GSS), Mr. Solomon Nobi Amanor, in his welcome address noted that the school offers admissions to WASSCE graduates to pursue a course of study leading to the award of professional certificates in management and Secretaryship.
He disclosed that the collaboration between the Parliamentary Service of Ghana and GSS dated back to 968 when the school trained 30 parliamentary reporters to start the 2nd parliament in 1969.
The last training, he said, was done in 2013/2014 for 26 Hansard reporters.
He assured that the GSS has taken delivery of new furniture and computers in preparation for the course and urged the participants to work hard and fulfil the objectives of the training programme.
Source: MyPublisher24.com
