The Executive Director of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Dr Rasheed Draman, has commended the Leadership of Parliament for revising the Standing Orders of the House. This follows Parliament on Thursday, made some raft changes to its existing Standing Orders to fit modern trends.
Changes were made, such as having the Appointments Committee of Parliament chaired by a non-government party. Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story, Mr Draman said that the attempt to review the old standing orders started way back but the process gets dissolved anytime the revisions are about to take place. He added that some Civil Societies like ACEPA and CDD-Ghana among others have all pushed for the revision of the orders.
“Let me commend the Leadership of Parliament for this time around for making sure that this has happened,” he said. Mr Draman further stated that the current Standing Orders have been drafted very well. This, he explains is because it clarifies a number of things that appears to have had gaps such as capturing time for backbenchers, the role of the speaker, emphasising consensus building, sanctions for breaching parliamentary privileges and contempt of parliament. According to him, as far-reaching as the new development may come, they expected to see a real oversight committee, adding that some East African jurisdictions have been conducting their parliamentary affairs in this manner.
Again, he said the little disappointment he had with the revision is that there was no committee set up for the future that would sit to see how the Parliament would position itself like how it is done in Finland. He also pointed out that there was no clarity on the hung parliament.
He, however, noted that he hopes moving forward, it can be worked on to address the issues raised.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com