By Edzorna Francis Mensah
Parliament has adopted the report of the Standing Orders Committee on the Review of Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana to realign fourteen (14) existing Committees and create fourteen (14) new Committees to improve its oversight of the Executive and other Constitutional Bodies.
The newly created committees with a specific mandate for the House to effectively carry out its constitutional duties are as follows:
Committee on Economy and Development Planning; Committee on Security and Intelligence; Committee on Parliamentary Affairs; Committee on Human Rights and the Budget Committee.
The rest are: Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources; Committee on Public Administration and State Interests; Petitions Committee; Committee on Independent Constitutional Bodies; Committee on Post-Legislative Scrutiny; Committee on Bills;
Committee on Ethics and Standards; Committee on Ways and Means; and
Committee on Private Member’s Bills and Motions.
The listed Committees have been re-aligned to reflect their mandate:
Committee on Gender, Children, and Social Welfare; Committee on Lands and Natural Resources; Committee on Information and Communications; Committee on Employment, Labour Relations, and Pensions; Committee on Trade, Industry, and Tourism; Committee on Youth and Sports; Committee on Energy and Petroleum.
The rest are: the Committee on Roads and Transportation; the Committee of Privileges and Immunities; the Appointment Committee; Committee of the Whole; Committee on Government and Parliamentary Assurances; and Committee on Chieftaincy, Culture, and Religious Affairs.
The review of the Standing Orders coincided with the review of the existing Strategic Plan (2020-2024) of Parliament, which came into operation in January 2020.
In its report, the Committee submitted that the provisions in the revised Orders conform with Parliament’s effort at achieving the medium-term goals, which include improving the ability of Parliament to exercise its legislative power, enhancing the oversight and accountability role of Parliament, and enhancing the capacity and productivity of Parliament to effectively respond to changing trends in democratic governance.
The review is in response to the increasing public demand for Parliament to effectively carry out its constitutional duties, and previous Parliaments initiated the process to review the Standing Orders to remedy the structural and procedural gaps in the existing Orders.
Unfortunately, these Parliamentarians were unable to complete the review process before the expiration of their respective terms.
Following the inauguration of the Eighth Parliament, the Rt Hon Speaker, in consultation with the Leadership of Parliament, constituted a Technical Committee to undertake the review of the Draft Orders and submit a report for the consideration of the Standing Orders Committee.
Among other things, the Committee was tasked with completing the work commenced by preceding Parliaments.
The Technical Committee undertook a comprehensive review of the Draft Orders and
has had several meetings to report to the Standing Orders Committee.
The Standing Orders Committee, chaired by the Speaker, S. K. Bagbin, said in its conclusion and recommendation column that after carefully scrutinising the current Standing Orders, some inadequacies were identified; consequently, the Committee proposes several provisions in the proposed Standing Orders to address the identified gaps to achieve the objectives of the House, as well as to respond to changing trends in legislative practices and procedures.
“Accordingly, under Article 110(1) of the Constitution and Order 157(2) of the Standing Orders, the Committee recommends to the House to adopt by Resolution, its report including the attached proposed Orders as the rules which shall regulate the conduct of business and procedures of the House and all the committees, as well as the powers, privileges, immunities, and conduct of the Members and the principal functionaries of Parliament,” the report concluded.