Majority Leader elected Acting Vice-Chair of Commonwealth lawmakers group

He beat his only opponent, Gerry Brownlee of New Zealand by 16 votes to six in an election held to fill the vacant position.

An August 6, 2021 letter sighted by GhanaWeb announced the outcome of the vote stating: “The voting of the CPA Acting Vice-Chairperson was undertaken in accordance with Article 21(6) of the Constitution, which allows for an election of Acting Vice-Chairperson in the absence of a formal meeting, an election to determine the successful candidate with a simple majority vote will take place by an email ballot of the Executive Committee Members.

“The votes for the two candidates were counted and the results are as follows:

Candidate A – Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu(Ghana) – 16 votes

Candidate B – Hon. Gerry Brownlee (New Zealand) – 6 votes

“As such, I am delighted to confirm that Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu from the CPA Africa Region, has been voted by the Executive Committee to be the CPA Acting Vice-Chairperson.”

Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu will join his colleague lawmakers in late September when next the Executive Committee Meeting takes place.

He is leader of business in Parliament and also Minister for Parliamentary Affairs. The 64-year-old stands as one of the longest serving lawmakers having served in all eight Parliaments in the fourth Republic except the first session i.e. between 1992 – 1996.