It is outside the remit of non Parliamentarians to impose leadership for Members in the House according to the new Standing Orders Orders adopted in February 2024.
It is in view of this that the Majorty is saying the executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) cannot change the leadership of the caucus without the approval of the MPs.
Hitherto, caucus leaders were determined by leadership of the respective political parties. Following the election of new leadership for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), those on the front role of the Minority caucus were reshuffled overnight.
Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the MP for Ajumako Enyan Essiam, took over the office of Tamale South lawmaker, Haruna Iddrisu, as Minority leader. The other leadership portfolios were also changed. The development gave birth to caucuses which were either in support or against the move.
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However, the new Standing Orders adopted in February 2024 does not permit party leaders to impose leadership for the caucuses but can only propose.
The conversation came to bear after the brouhaha on the attempt of the NPP to alter the administration of the Majority caucus in Parliament.
There were reports of a possible reshuffle in the Majority leadership. Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was said to have been replaced by his Deputy Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin.
But the decision which was item 5 on the agenda for the meeting was skipped, after which First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu, addressed the media to announce that the caucus was not in support of the idea of changing the leadership.
Commenting on the issue, Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, the Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North said he, together with majority of the caucus membership, would have kicked against it should it have come up at the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting Monday, February 19, 2024.
Aside from their objection to the call, the MP said the new Standing Orders wouldn’t have supported the move.
“I would not have supported it. Indeed we didn’t contemplate discussions that would lead to any change.
“And in any case, I was also informed that the current position of the law was that members of Parliament would select their leaders in Parliament and leaders were going to be selected to perform in Parliament. So I couldn’t see how and why somebody else outside the House was going to select leaders to perform in the House contrary to the rules of engagement in the House per the Standing Orders,” he told Alfred Ocansey on Ghana Tonight Tuesday, February 20, 2024 on TV3.
Meanwhile, per the Standing Orders, Mr. Appiah-Kubi, said outsiders can make proposals for the MPs to consider but cannot impose.
“Everybody has the power to propose for the consideration of the Members in Parliament. There is nobody outside the House who has a mandate to demand. So the party could make a proposal for consideration but they cannot impose and the moment that the members agree with the proposal, it will so happen.
“Even Members of Parliament –be it persons or group of persons — would not have that mandate except all of us acting together as a caucus, we have the capacity and the mandate to select our leaders as a caucus,” he clarified.
He said the entire caucus would have unanimously opposed the changes if it had come up at the meeting.
“I’m sure that if ever anybody made such a proposition, it would be only just a proposition for consideration. But if somebody made a publication that we have selected these group of people to lead the party, we would not submit to it and this decision is unanimous. Majority of the caucus would not submit to the proposition,” he stated.
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