Members of Parliament may form their own independent caucus, according to the new Standing Orders of the House, according to Speaker of the House Alban Bagbin.
The Speaker states that instead of associating with the Majority or Minority caucus, Members of Parliament now have the option to be a part of an independent caucus according to the new standing rules that went into effect on Tuesday, February 6.
This was disclosed by Alban Bagbin when he gave his introductory comments in Parliament.
“The system that we have now allows you to belong to what we call the independent caucus. You don’t need to align with the Minority or the Majority. As I state very often, we can have an independent president in this country without members of parliament. The rules have changed, and this change recognizes the situation that we are in and also prepares for other future scenarios.”
The National Pledge will be spoken by MPs to open sessions in accordance with the revised Standing Orders.
With this major modification to the new standing rules, chiefs of government institutions will now have to personally come before Parliament to answer questions about their agency.
This change is in contrast to the former standing regulations that allowed Ministers of State to act as the heads of institutions’ representatives when being questioned.
