Break Parliament’s ‘Absolute Powers – Dr. Rasheed Draman Pushes Major Standing Orders Reform
By Maurice Otoo
Executive Director of ACEPA, Dr. Rasheed Draman, says Parliament’s ongoing review of its Standing Orders is aimed at decentralising power within the House and ending long-standing partisan deadlocks that have stalled reforms for years.
Speaking about the resumption of discussions after recess on Kessben TV’s Digest show, Dr. Draman disclosed that lawmakers held their first meeting on the reforms in January before Parliament went on break, and have now reconvened for a second round of deliberations.
According to him, changing the Standing Orders is an internal parliamentary process embedded within the workings of the House and does not require any complicated legal procedures.
“The Standing Orders Committee meets and deals with it. It is very political,” he explained.
Dr. Draman noted that previous attempts to amend the rules failed because of entrenched interests and the balance of numbers between both sides of the House.
“We’ve tried for several years to change it, but it did not work due to numbers on either side and some particular sector interests,” he stated.
He said the new proposals are intended to promote shared authority and reduce the concentration of influence in a few committees, particularly the Finance Committee.
“The thrust has to do with decentralising financial committees because it seems to have almost absolute powers,” he stressed.
Dr. Draman added that the rationale behind the reforms is to prevent situations where committees become “judges in their own cause,” insisting that Parliament must strengthen accountability and fairness in its internal processes.
He further suggested that if given the opportunity, some critical committees, including the Intelligence Committee, should be chaired by members from the Minority side to ensure balance and transparency in parliamentary oversight.
