The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has highlighted that the recently implemented Standing Orders of the House now allow Members of Parliament the option to form an independent caucus, diverging from traditional alignment with either the Majority or Minority caucus.
Bagbin made this revelation during his opening remarks in Parliament, emphasizing the flexibility of the new rules.
He stated, “The system that we have now allows you to belong to what we call the independent caucus. You don’t need to align with the Minority or the Majority. As I state very often, we can have an independent president in this country without members of parliament. The rules have changed, and this change recognizes the situation that we are in and also prepares for other future scenarios.”
Additionally, the updated Standing Orders mandate that MPs commence sessions by reciting the National Pledge and introduce a significant change requiring heads of government institutions to personally address queries from Parliament, departing from the previous practice of having Ministers of State represent them during questioning.
