Mr. Evans Mensah, a journalist with an Accra-based media house, the Multimedia Group has said that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) holds the minority in this 8th parliament.
According to him, the guidelines of the legislative arm of government are explicitly clear on the definition of the leaders of the two sides, minority, and majority.
For him, despite the fact that the NDC holds the same number of parliamentary seats as the NPP (137, 137) respectively, the leader of the NDC’s caucus whose party is not in government is the Minority caucus.
Mr. Evans stressed that “it is accurate to describe the NDC, their leader as Minority Leader according to the Standing Orders because the Standing Orders’ definition of the Minority didn’t use numbers only but introduces the other party which is not in government, the leader of that party is the minority leader. If parties are expanded to mean independent candidates inclusive, again, the majority leader definition will still hold for the NPP that is if the definition issue arises and the Speaker interprets as he deems fit to include that”.
Emphasizing the Standing Orders he noted, “the Standing Orders, it appears to me, had anticipated this and the definitional issues in there incorporate the kind of situation we have.”
However, parliament is yet to determine which side of the House constitutes the Majority and Minority Caucus.
There is also an Independent MP who has indicated that he would join the NPP’s caucus. In relation to this independent candidate, Evans reiterated, that per the Standing Orders’ definition of the Minority Leader as Leader of the political party with the highest number of seats other than the governing party makes it unambiguous that the NDC are the minority caucus.
Further noting that the NPP caucus are still the Majority side even if the Independent MP is prevented from joining them as the NDC argues that the provisions of the Constitution do not permit the independent candidate to join any of the parties since he was elected as an independent member of the house.
Filed By : Agaatorne Douglas Asaah / awakenewsroom.com