The Speaker of Parliament of Ghana, Honourable Alban Bagbin, has intimated that, there will be no majority and minority caucus in the 8th Parliament under the Akufo-Addo government.
Speaking at the proceeding of the second sitting of Parliament after the inauguration of President Akufo-Addo, the speaker announced that, both parties were going to be given equal rights to be functional in Parliament.
“The decision of no majority and no minority in Parliament is a call for us to chart a new path to embark on new ways of transacting Parliamentary business.
“I urge the leaders of the house to put their heads together, to smoothen out any bottlenecks, that will challenge or impede the conduct of the business in the house.”
This comes after much deliberation as to which party had the majority and the minority in Parliament.
Despite this announcement, he declared the NPP as the majority group for the business in Parliament, after reading the letter of the Independent MP, Honourable Andrews Asiamah, who officially wrote to him to declare his association with the ruling party, NPP.
In a speech read to the House, the Speaker urged the newly inducted Members of Parliament to uphold to honesty, as the people of Ghana due to the confidence reposed in them, have selected them {Members of Parliament], to represent them.
“You have the reciprocal responsibility and obligation to serve them and the nation with honour and integrity.”
He then urged the newly elected MPs to adhere to Parliamentary rules and help make the activities in the government effective, additionally, admonishing the incoming Ministers who are yet to be appointed, to do due diligence to their line of work, both on ministerial grounds and as Members of Parliament.
He further expressed regret to what he described as the rather unruly behaviour of the Members of Parliament at their last sitting.
“It is a shame to me as a former Member of Parliament and citizen, the commotion that took place on the floor of this house including the invasion of the armed soldiers on the floor and the breaching of sanctity of the votes.”
The Speaker then urged that there should not be a repetition of the event and admonished the Members of the House to ensure that measures are put in place to avoid such future occurrence.
He called on the Members of Parliament to deal with the revision of the standing orders of Parliament and further reiterated his commitment to serving the house faithfully in the interest of all Ghanaians.
Commenting after the speech, the Leader of the opposition, National Democratic Congress (NDC), Haruna Iddrisu congratulated the Speaker on his election and urged that, he trusts the Parliament will become more accountable, transparent and more responsive to needs and aspirations of the citizens.
He further averred that, the House had a responsibility to fix its reputation which has been tarnished.
“We have a duty to repair the reputation of this Parliament in terms of how we conducted ourselves in your election as a Speaker.”
Speaking also, was the Leader of the NPP in Parliament, he urged for the house to overcome the past happenings and work towards achieving the mandates of the country.
He congratulated the speaker and assured the Speaker of the NPP’s commitment in working diligently.
