Equal seats in Parliament require change in Standing Orders - Haruna

Haruna Iddrisu, the Leader of the NDC caucus in Parliament has called for major reviews to be effected to the House’s current Standing Orders to cater for the equal number of seats on both sides.

He said that with such an unprecedented division of seats in the House, leadership must take priority in ensuring that its Standing Orders are reviewed to reflect the new changes.

Haruna Iddrisu made these known at a press conference organized by the National Democratic Congress in Accra on Thursday, January 14, 2021.

“New Standing Orders have now become imperative. Ghana has never experienced a Parliament with equal number of seats on both sides. There is, therefore, the need for the House to adopt new Standing Orders that will address the current nature and character of this Eighth Parliament,” he stated.

He added that without a doubt, the current Standing Orders will make the work of the House challenging but since it is left with no choice but to stick with it, for now, it will do so, hopeful that work is initiated into a new one at earliest.

Haruna Iddrisu also took the opportunity to congratulate Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin on his election, expressing his high confidence in his ability to be fair to all sides.

“We trust that the Speaker will abandon every adversarial politics as he assumes that high office of the Speaker of the House. He should manage the House as the third organ of state and the most important one, the citadel of democracy, in a manner that showcases neutrality and impartiality for the good of Ghana,” he said.

On the subject of the compositions of committees, he stressed the need that all considerations should be made with the numerical strength of both sides in mind.