Commencing Tuesday, February 6th, parliamentary sessions will begin with the recitation of the National Pledge and a roll call.
This is the official rollout of the updated standing orders.
The significant change in the new standing orders requires heads of institutions to directly face Parliament to respond to inquiries about their agencies, replacing the previous protocol allowing Ministers of State to stand in for them during questioning.
At the beginning of the the First Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Eight Parliamen, the August house has seen a significant change in the standing order which has been used since 1993.
The new standing order adopted by the house has brought a lot of changes which includes composition of the committees.
The house will henceforth also have a roll call each day of sitting to check attendance this is captured in order 14 of the new standing Order.
The National Pledge which is also captured at order 60 of the new standing Order, will also be recited at the beginning of every meeting.
Speaker of Parliament RT. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin also indicated that, “every presiding speaker should ensure that these new changes are well observed,.”
Member of Parliament (MP) for Asewase constituency in the Ashanti Region, Muntaka Mubarak, commenting on this new system stated that, “this system introduced in the house is a good one which will urge members who often absent themselves from Parliamentary business to be regular and punctual henceforth. It will also help the public to be able to hold their MP’s accountable for not partaking in Parliamentary businesses and duties”.
