Speaker of parliament Alban Bagbin in his address highlighted the procedural intricacies concerning the appointment of leaders within the House.
Bagbin expressed bewilderment regarding the confusion surrounding the selection process for caucus leadership roles. He emphasized that political parties retain the authority to spearhead the appointment or alteration of caucus leaders, in alignment with both the old and new standing orders.
The Speaker’s clarification follows remarks by First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu, who asserted that the new Standing Orders grant exclusive authority to caucus members to modify leadership within both the Majority and Minority groups.
Osei Owusu, commonly known as Joewise, underscored that decisions pertaining to leadership transitions solely rest within the purview of the caucus, without external parliamentary intervention.
Amidst the evolving discourse, Speaker Bagbin reiterated the fundamental role of political parties in orchestrating leadership dynamics within parliamentary caucuses.
His insistence on adherence to established procedural norms underscores the complexity inherent in navigating leadership transitions within the legislative framework, fostering transparency and accountability in parliamentary operations.
Speaker Alban Bagbin’s Remarks on the Floor of Parliament
This new order says Majority Leader means an MP designated by the Majority caucus, as their leader in the house. Designate means appoint. Now, the same standing order talks about the majority caucus and it says majority caucus means the members of the party or parties that have the largest number of seats in the House. I really don’t see the difference, it is still talking about the same thing, because the caucus is a party’s wing, that is the wing of the party in Parliament and you cannot be talking about designating or appointing your leaders without the party leading the process.
I don’t understand that, Majoiriy caucus means members of the party or parties that have the largest number of seats in the house and so if you come as a new house, you scarcely even know each other and then you are asked to go and appoint your leader, without the party how are you going to do it? It is the party that has given you the platform to come to this house, you come on the ticket of the party and to appoint your leader the party leads the process, I don’t know how you can do it without the party.
You know at this stage of our parties this will be controlled by some parochial interest but there are constitutional provisions including legislative provisions that bind the parties and compel parties to be national in character and so the face of the party which is usually the leadership of the caucus must show that national character. If you leave it to the caucus alone you are likely to face challenges.
So I am not really in support of interpretations saying it is the members of the caucus that should designate, it is not talking about electing, it says the members of the caucus should appoint the leader or leaders of their caucus. It is a matter that I will come out with written reasons for this house but in the meantime, this is the position of the speaker, and I do so under the same standing orders where if there is a doubt it is the speaker’s opinion that prevails. Anybody that disagrees with that you have your front to proceed to the proper venue to contest my opinion.
If you disagree with me you proceed to court and get that changed but as at now this is binding on all of you and the parties so there should not be any confusion at all, the party is still in control and the party will lead the process of designating or appoint the leaders of the caucus in the House. He remarked.
