By Edzorna Francis Mensah
The Clerk to Ghana’s Parliament, Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah, has urged Members of Parliamentary Press Corps to provide total coverage to Parliament, including committees sitting, and courtesy calls on the Speaker in the interest of the public.
He said the media must be interested in all public activities Parliament does, whether in the chamber, at the committee meeting or sitting, or at Speaker’s meetings with international delegations, so that Ghanaians get to know what Parliament is doing to make Ghana a good place.
According to him, journalists should not only report on the proceedings and other activities in the chamber but also the intricate practices and procedures that underpin certain decisions, motions, and resolutions of the House.
Mr. Kwabena Nisiah mentioned the fact that “the work of Parliament in its governance architecture can be well understood and appreciated by Ghanaians through the dissemination of relevant information pertaining to their mandate in the conduct of the House”.
Speaking at the open ceremony of a two-day orientation workshop on revised Parliamentary Standing Orders for the Members of Parliament Press at Ada, the Clerk urged the members to participate fully in all sessions of this orientation programme in order to benefit from the deliberations, which would enable them to improve their knowledge of the rules of the House and facilitate the discharge of their duty.
“It is in light of this that Parliament took it upon itself to organise a workshop for members of the Parliamentary Press Corps to help them familiarise themselves with the contents of the revised Standing Orders to enable them to report accurately and appropriately.
Parliaments of the Fourth Republic have, in consonance with the provisions of Article 110 of the 1992 Constitution, regulated the procedures of the House by Standing Orders, which prescribe the rules and practices for the conduct of parliamentary business.
After twenty-three (23) years of adherence to the provisions of the previous Standing Orders of the House, with minimal amendments, it is prudent that Parliament refine its processes and procedures in accordance with emerging legislative trends across the Commonwealth.
Contemporary challenges, including demands for higher levels of transparency in the democratic process; inadequacy of manual work procedures in the effective discharge of the mandate of the Legislature; and the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed some gaps in the Orders of the House, requiring that we adapt innovative techniques and strategies in order to deliver on the mandate of Parliament.
Moreover, the hung nature of the Eighth Parliament, which is the first of its kind since the inception of the Fourth Republic, presents a number of novel situations and challenges that were not within the contemplation of the drafters of previous Orders of the House.
Significantly, the revised Orders, which were adopted by a Resolution of the House on Thursday, 21st December, 2023 and took effect on 2nd January, 2024, introduce practices and procedures, including the recital of the National Pledge, the conduct of parliamentary business through virtual platforms, and clearly delineate the hierarchy of the Leadership of Parliament.
Furthermore, under the current Standing Orders, the number of parliamentary Committees has increased from thirty-one (31) to forty-four (44) to emphasise the new focus and direction of the House, as part of efforts to expand the frontier of Parliament and improve parliamentary oversight to public officials.
