You can go to court if you disagree – Speaker tells MPs after clarifying how leaders should be appointed

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, says he does not understand the source of the confusion over how the leadership of the various caucuses in the House should be appointed.

This was after he clarified that the political parties still have the power to lead the process of appointing or changing the leaders of the caucuses in the House.

He says that is the position of the old and new standing orders; hence, he does not understand the source of confusion.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, February 21, he said, “I know that the parties are having problems with this new definition of leaders; that is only where this confusion comes from. The old order refers to a party or parties, but this new one does not refer to the party but caucuses.  The old order defines the Majority Leader to mean a member of Parliament designated by the party or parties holding the majority of the seats in the House, and they are recognized leaders in the House.

“This new order says Majority Leader means an MP designated by the Majority caucus, as their leader in the house. Designate means to appoint. Now, the same standing order talks about the majority caucus, and it says the majority caucus means the members of the party or parties that have the largest number of seats in the House. I don’t see the difference; it is still talking about the same thing because the caucus is a party’s wing, which is the wing of the party in Parliament, and you cannot be talking about designating or appointing your leaders without the party leading the process.  I don’t understand that. Majority caucus means members of the party or parties that have the largest number of seats in the house, and so if you come to a new house, you scarcely even know each other, and then you are asked to go and appoint your leader, Without the party, how are you going to do it?  It is the party that has given you the platform to come to this house, you come on the ticket of the party, and to appoint your leader, the party leads the process, I don’t know how you can do it without the party.

“You know, at this stage of our parties, this will be controlled by some parochial interest, but there are constitutional provisions, including legislative provisions, that bind the parties and compel parties to be national, and so the face of the party, which is usually the leadership of the caucus, must show that national character. If you leave it to the caucus alone, you will likely face challenges. So I am not really in support of interpretations saying it is the members of the caucus that should designate, it is not talking about electing; it says the members of the caucus should appoint the leader or leaders of their caucus. It is a matter that I will come up with written reasons for this house, but in the meantime, this is the position of the speaker, and I do so under the same standing orders where, if there is a doubt, it is the speaker’s opinion that prevails. Anybody who disagrees with that has your right to proceed to the proper venue to contest my opinion.

“If you disagree with me, you proceed to court and get that changed, but as of now, this is binding on all of you and the parties, so there should not be any confusion at all, the party is still in control, and the party will lead the process of designating or appointing the leaders of the caucus in the House.”

His comments come at a time when the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu (Joewise), said the new Standing Orders of Parliament placed the power to change the leadership of both the Majority and the Minority into the hands of only the caucus and not one else outside of Parliament.

Joewise said no decision had been taken to change the current leadership of the majority.

There were reports in some media outlets that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmakers had changed their leadership in Parliament ahead of the December 7 general elections. The reports indicated that Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin is to replace Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.

But addressing the press in Parliament on Tuesday, February 20, the Bekwai lawmaker said, “We are here to inform you that the publications that are going around are not true, they are false.

“The majority caucus has not made any changes in its leadership; the majority caucus has not contemplated making any changes to its leadership, and we will tell the world and Ghana to ignore any such publication.

“We want to assure you that we have confidence in the leadership and that the status quo shall remain, we are aware that upon the nomination of one of the Deputy Whips as a minister, a replacement will be made, and that replacement will be made by the caucus when we have the opportunity and the time to consider the appropriate replacement. This is all the information we want to share with you.”

He stressed, “The leadership of the majority has not changed, we have not contemplated changing, and we have no intention to effect any change in the leadership of the majority caucus.

“The Parliament of Ghana has adopted standing orders that place the selection and change or otherwise of leadership in the hands of the caucus and not anybody inside parliament.”

Asked whether there was an external attempt to remove Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader Mr. Joseph Osei Owusu answered: “I am not aware of such a thing, nobody has discussed that with the caucus, and since nobody has the power to do that outside the caucus, there may be rumours and intricacies, but we in parliament are not aware of any attempt to remove anybody.”