THE CLERK TO PARLIAMENT
Duties of the Clerk

The Clerk to Parliament is a public officer. Neither the Clerk nor any of his staff are civil servants.
The Clerk is the principal adviser to the Speaker on the privileges, practices and procedures of the House. He is also consulted by Members of Parliament on procedural matters.

His official day duties include preparation of the Order Paper - the daily business' arranged for the Sitting of the House - and keeping daily entry in his Minutes book of the decisions and proceedings of the House for publication in the Votes and Proceedings. Bills passed by the House are authenticated by the Clerk for Presidential assent.

As a servant of the House, the Clerk has to demonstrate political neutrality in a multi-party Parliamentary democracy and to ensure the impartial discharge of his functions. A betrayal of these qualities may undermine the effectiveness, integrity and efficiency of the institution. The Clerk is expected to provide strictly factual information and to observe objectivity. In the heat of debate when tempers rise, he is to assist the Speaker to arbitrate between the ruling party and the opposition parties. He works behind the scenes and in anonymity.

The Clerk is the chief executive of the Parliamentary Service and its accounting officer and is a member of the Parliamentary Service Board whose Chairman is the Speaker. He presides over the Management Committee comprising the Deputy Clerks, and the heads of department.

The Clerk is assisted by the three Clerks-at-the- Table. The designation "Clerks-at-the-Table" derives from the Clerk's Table in the Chamber in front of Mr. Speaker's Chair. It is upon that Table that Papers are laid. One most unenviable function of the Clerk in our Parliament is to preside over the first Sitting of a newly-elected Parliament for the purpose of election of a new Speaker.

CLERKS TO GHANA'S PARLIAMENT

CURRENT CLERK TO PARLIAMENT
Emmanuel Anyimadu is the current Clerk to Parliament. He was born on June 12, 1959 at Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region.
He had his secondary school education at Techiman secondary school from where he obtained both his O and A level certificates. In 1984 he entered the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi and graduated with a BA Hons in Law and History.
Mr. Anyimadu has a post-graduate diploma (1999) and an MPA (2002) in Public Administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) (Accra). His hobbies are reading, research, and watching football.
He is a Christian and married with children.

Mr. Anyimadu has been Clerk to Parliament since 2nd July 2007.  Before then he was Deputy Clerk to Parliament in charge of Parliamentary Relations, Protocol, and Public Affairs

PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE (1993 – 2007)

• Responsible for the general administration of the Speaker’s Office
• Administrative Secretary to the Ghana Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
• Secretary to the Parliamentary Service Board
• Head, Majority Caucus Secretariat
• Acting Director, Finance, Human Resource and Administration on a number of occasions.
• Head, Parliamentary Relations Unit

Clerk to Parliamentary Committees (1993 – 2000):
• Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport
• Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications
• Parliamentary Select Committee on Works and Housing
• Parliamentary Standing Committee on Subsidiary Legislation
• Assistant Clerk at Table

Assistant Clerk of the Consultative Assembly that drafted the 1992 Constitution of Ghana (September 1991 to April 1992)
Clerk to:
• The Committee on Legal and Drafting.
• The Committee on Public Services.
• Assistant Clerk at Table

(Attachment) Courses in Parliamentary Practices and Procedures in:
• The United States Congress
• The Canadian Parliament
• The Lok Sabha (Parliament of India)
• Legislative Drafting organized by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
• Attended a number of Parliamentary Seminars in Ghana, USA, Switzerland etc
• Secretary to a number of delegations attending Parliamentary Conferences/on study tour of Parliaments

EXTRA CURRICULAR/RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES

• Founding Member & Executive Committee Member, Adventists Professional Forum, Ghana
• Member of an Eleven-Member Advisory Board instituted by the Techiman Traditional Council to advise the chiefs and appropriate authorities on matters of education, health, culture, development etc in the Techiman Municipality
• Leader and Founder, “Voices of Democracy” (Parliamentary Choir) – From its inception (3rd January 2003) to 31st May 2004; and advisor to the leadership of the Choir (31st May 2004 – to date).
• Member, Constitutional and Legal Committee of the Ghana Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists (January 2000 to November 2005).
• Member, Education Sub-Committee on Manpower Development of the West African Union Mission of the Seventh-day Adventists (February 1998 to January 2000).
• Government Tutor, Techiman Secondary School (January 1990 to August 1991).
• Secretary to the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Techiman Secondary School (February 1990 to August 1991).
• Member, Guidance and Counseling Council of Techiman Secondary School (February 1990 to August 1991).
• Secretary to the Fact Finding Committee of the Brong Ahafo Region House of Chiefs that investigated claims by chiefs for elevation to paramountcy status (1988/89).
• National President, Ghana National Association of Seventh-day Adventist Students (GNAAS)(1986/87).
• Government and History Tutor, Techiman Secondary School (January 1981 to September 1984).
• Senior Prefect, Techiman Secondary School (1977/78).
• Senior Prefect, S. D. A. Middle School (Techiman) (1972/73).