Samia Nkrumah asserts independence in Parliament
Samia Nkrumah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro, on Friday said she would not be aligned with the majority NDC in Parliament but preferred to do business in the House guided by national interests and those of her constituents in Jomoro.
She said she was constrained to sit with the Minority NPP for now, pending the revision of the Standing Orders of the House which would enable her express full political independence and transact business in the House based on her conscience.
I will sit with the largest Minority party pending the outcome of the revision of the Standing Order,” she said in reactions to calls by the leadership of the House for the independent MPs and MPs from the two smaller parties, the PNC and the CPP, to declare their stand for the conduct of business in Parliament.
Based on the Standing Orders of the House and convention, independent MPs and those from smaller parties must openly declare their stance and alignment with either the majority NDC or the minority NPP party for the smooth conduct of Parliamentary business.
The need for independent MPs and MPs from smaller parties to state where they want to belong to came up on the floor of the House, when Mr. Alban Bagbin, the Majority Leader presented a report of the Committee of Selection to the House to enable the House to begin work on the composition of membership for Parliamentary committee such as the Appointments, Privileges, Standing Orders, Public Accounts and Education.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader, said since there had been no formal communications from the four independent MPs, the CPP MP and the two PNC MPs as to which side they belonged to, it was wrong for the NDC to claim to have Majority strength for the placement of members in committees.
The leadership of the NDC and the NPP agreed then that in line with convention, Independent MPs and those from the smaller opposition parties should declare their position in a written form, which should be tabled before the House.
Mr Bagbin said the two MPs belonging to the PNC and two Independent MPs had declared their position through a written statement, which had been delivered to the Speaker, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo.
Source: GNA