The leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament is demanding an equal share of the select committees.
Addressing journalists in Parliament House yesterday, the leader of the NDC in Parliament, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, said his side of the house wants to chair eight out of the 16 select committees, and as well have representations on the Standing Committees.
Giving reasons for their demands, Mr Iddrisu indicated that article 103(5) of the 1992 Constitution and Order 154 of the Standing Orders of Parliament, provides that: “The composition of the committees shall, as much, reflect the different shades of opinions in Parliament,” so this must reflect in the composition of the committees of the 8th Parliament.
Mr Iddrisu said that both sides of the House have equal number of members of Parliament (MPs), hence, composition committees, including the selection of the leaders, should reflect the numbers and strength of both sides.
For the purposes of education, this paper would explain the committee system and their functions briefly.
Parliament has two major committees, namely the Standing Committee and Select Committee. In addition to these committees, Parliament may, by motion, appoint ad-hoc committees to consider matters that do not fall under the functions of the two major committees.
Currently, there are 11 committees that constitute the Standing Committee, and 16 committees that make up the Select Committee.
The functions of all these committees are to adjudicate on bills, resolutions and other matters that are referred to them.
The Constitution and Parliamentary Standing Orders have prescribed the composition of some of the committees, while others have been left for the parliamentarians to decide for themselves.
On the Standing Committee, which is made up of 11 committees in all, Mr Iddrisu said that aside the seven committees who’s leadership composition have been pre-determined by the Standing Orders, the composition of the remaining four have not been pre-determined, hence, their counterpart should take note and act accordingly.
“Similarly, the leadership of the 16 Select Committees is not pre-determined by the Standing Orders.
“The NDC caucus shall, therefore, insist that in line with Order 154 of the Standing Orders of
Parliament and article 103 (5) of the 1992 Constitution, the composition of committees should
reflect the nature and character of this very Eight Parliament.
“The practice of making one side of the House chair all Select Committees is no longer tenable in the current dispensation.
“Given the current numbers, there must be strict sharing of the leadership of the Select Committees by the two sides of the House.
“Out of the 16 Select Committees, the NDC should chair eight, while the NPP would also chair eight.
“This would be a true reflection of the different shades of opinion in the current Parliament, as envisaged in the 1992 Constitution under article 103 (5) and Order 154 of the Standing Orders of the House.”
The leader also stressed that in order for the composition of the committees to reflect the different shades of opinion in Parliament, the leadership of both sides should endeavour to nominate qualified persons to serve on the committees, while considering gender, age distribution, experience, regional balance, among other factors.
Touching on the issue of which side the NDC will sit when the house reconvenes today, since there is no majority and minority due to the equal numbers both sides have, Mr Iddrisu said, adding that the NDC does not have any issue sitting at the left-hand side of the Speaker, but their opponents should respect their strength when it comes to doing business in the House.
The leader also touched on the review of the Standing Orders of Parliament.
He said that though the 7th Parliament started the process and couldn’t finish, the 8th Parliament should work hard to finish work on reviewing the Standing Orders to solve some of the issues confronting the 8th Parliament and subsequent parliaments that would also have the characteristics of the 8th Parliament.
The post NDC wants ‘Ky?mu P?’ In Parl. appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS