THE seventh Parliament under the Fourth Republic in accordance with Article 103 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and Order 151 (1) of the Standing Orders of the August House, appointed members unto the Committee of Selection on Tuesday, January, 10, 2017 to form the Standing, Select and other Committees in the House.
It’s imperative to note that the bulk of the parliamentary work rests on members of the various committees, and not on the floor as some civil society organisations (CSOs), groups and individuals want to portray to the generality of the population who are not familiar with the workings of Parliament.
Currently, Ghana’s Parliament operates under three unique Committees which are: The Standing, Select and Special or AD-HOC Committees.
The Standing Committee consists of 14 committees, comprising Standing Orders, Subsidiary Legislation, Special Budget, Public Accounts, Privileges, Committee on Judiciary, House, and Government Assurance Committees.
The rest are Committee on Gender and Children, Judiciary, Finance, Appointments, Business and Committee on Members Holding Office of Profit.
The Select Committee also has 16 committees under it and these are Land & Forestry, Food/Agriculture/Cocoa Affairs, Local Government & Rural Development, Works & Housing, Constitutional/Legal & Parliamentary Affairs, Health, Communication and Roads & Transport.
Others are Defence and Interior, Foreign Affairs, Youth/Sports & Culture, Education, Mines and Energy, Environment/Social Welfare/State Enterprises and Trade/Industry and Tourism.
The Special or AD-HOC Committees however, has only one committee which is the committee on poverty reduction strategy.
Pursuant to Order 151 (2) of the Standing Orders of the August House, the Selection Committee has the mandate to compose all the committees.
Selecting members unto the various committees really needs some sort of tactfulness and diplomacy in order to ensure evenly distribution of members from all the 275 constituencies.
Per the information, I gathered there is no ambiguity in the selection process as the variables that form the basis for placing a particular member on a certain committee be it under Standing or Select is clearly spelt out.
According to a report by the Selecting Committee, the selection of members unto committees is always guided by the formula adopted and approved by the House for the composition of membership of Committees, Parliamentary delegations and other Parliamentary groups and associations.
Again, the Selecting Committee which is an emergency one is also guided by Article 103 (5) of the 1992 Constitution and Order 154 of the Standing Orders of Parliament which require that the composition of the Committees shall as much as possible reflect the different shades of opinion in legislative house.
In a discussion with some members of the leadership, they explained that the emergency Selecting Committee which membership is made up of leadership from both the majority and the minority also considers the following: regional balance, gender representation, individual expertise, conventions and other practices of the House.
Under the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, the House adopted and approved the “ratio of 169:106” as the formula for the composition of the various committees.
Currently, there are only two political parties the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) making up the 275-member House. The NPP has majority of 169, while NDC are in minority with 106, hence the ratio of 169:106.
The number of members per a committee ranges from 18-20. Each committee has two types of leadership, which are a chairperson and a ranking member. The chairpersonship position is held by a member from the majority side of the House while the ranking membership position is held by a member from the minority.
The only committees which are chaired by the minority are: the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Subsidiary Legislation, and Committee on Members Holding Profit (chaired by 2nd Deputy Speaker).
Another revelation was the number of members from a particular region on a committee. The answer I received from an old member of the House was that the number is based on the numeric strength of a region.
A committee can have more than two members from same party, from same region while other regions may have just one member.
There is no doubt that the success or failure of Parliament depends solely on the work.
By Today In Parliament with Franklin Asare Donkor
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