Parliament is set to approve its first set of committees Tuesday as the members settle for the real business at 2:pm.
The House is expected to approve a 20-member Selection Committee chaired by the Speaker which will determine which Member of Parliament (MP) should sit on which committee.
The House is also expected to prioritise approval of the Appointments Committee so it can soon begin work on approving President Nana Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees’ list which will be out soon.
Meanwhile, Deputy Leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus, James Klutse Avedzi says with the 137 – 137 seats for both, the New Patriotic Party’s chairmanship of committees must be split equally.
“We have to chair the committees on 50 – 50 bases. We have equal numbers is parliament 137-137 so at every committee, the numbers will be shared equally,” he said.
He explained: “For instance where we have a 20 member committee, we have to have 10 – 10.
“Where we have let’s say 25-member committee, we can decide to give them 13, we will take 12, but even with that one, we’ll insist that they take the number 13 for two years, then we’ll come back and take the 13 for the other two years. We have to share it equally 50 – 50, they chair half, we chair half.”
But Deputy Leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Caucus, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said the declaration by Speaker Alban Bagbin that NPP and Independent MP constitute majority parliamentary group gives them the upper hand.
“Mr Speaker has resolved it finally, moving forward it means that business will be done in this house with clarity of thought that the NPP Caucus constitute the majority and would therefore lead in the constitution of the formation of committees as per our current standing orders,” he said.
He further indicated that the NDC MP for Assin North MP James Qauyeson cannot hold himself out as such because of court injunction on him. He says legally, the NDC has 136 seats in parliament.