The First Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Habib Iddrisu, has reaffirmed that the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) position as the majority in Parliament remains unchanged, despite Speaker Alban Bagbin's recent declaration of four parliamentary seats as vacant.
According to him, the seating arrangements in Parliament are the prerogative of the Clerk of Parliament and as long as the Clerk has not rearranged the seating to reflect a change in majority or minority status-such as having the National Democratic Congress (NDC) sit on the right side of the Speaker-the NPP maintains its majority position. "As to who sits where is the decision of the Clerk because they look at the numbers and make the arrangements and if the Clerk hasn't been able to do that, it means it stays," he said on JoyNews' Top Story on Tuesday, October 22. He noted that the Speaker has not issued any directives regarding which caucus should sit to his right as the majority or to his left as the minority.
Mr Iddrisu stated that leaders of both caucuses met with Speaker Bagbin, during which he clarified that he had not given any instruction concerning the seating arrangements, apart from acknowledging the Supreme Court's stay on his earlier declaration of vacant seats.
He said that during the meeting, Effutu MP and leader of the NPP caucus, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, informed Speaker Bagbin that NPP MPs had arrived early in Parliament only to find NDC members seated on the majority side of the House.