Standing Orders dedicate day for Minority — Haruna Iddrisu

The Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has hinted that the revised Standing Orders of Parliament has made provision for the Minority Members of Parliament (MPs) to have a day dedicated to them to make contributions in Parliament.

He said the minority MPs would make statements, discuss issues and move motions on the day.

Another provision in the Standing Orders is a day dedicated to back benchers when new MPs, who occupy the back seats, will be the only ones who will be making statements and debating on the floor of the House.

Mr Iddrisu was speaking at an interactive meeting between leadership of Parliament and members of the Parliamentary Press Corps at the Parliament House in Accra on Wednesday.

The meeting was used to give outlines of the activities of the second meeting of the second session of the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic.

Mr Iddrisu said the revised copy of the Standing Orders had been given to the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, for his consideration.

He said the revised Standing Orders was expected to be passed soon for its implementation to begin.

Right to Information

Mr Iddrisu said the report of the Appointments Committee of Parliament was ready and indicated that the report would be presented to Parliament next week.

Thereafter, he said, the bill would be taken through the second reading stage. It would then go through the consideration stage, third reading and then passed.

Mr Iddrisu said a number of bills, including the Ghana Railways Development Bill, the National Research Fund Bill and the Local Content Bill, 2018 would be presented to Parliament during the meeting.

There would also be Instruments, including an Instrument on maternity protection that would be presented to Parliament.

Corruption perception

The Deputy Majority Leader, Ms Sarah Adwoa Safo, said the perception of corruption against Parliament was a worrying issue.

She said the leadership of Parliament had taken steps to improve the image of Parliament and erase the perception.

Ms Safo urged the media to partner Parliament to create a good image of Parliament.

She again urged the media to report accurately on proceedings in Parliament to enable the public to have a true reflection of events in the House.