Parliament urged to assert itself and leave the executive’s shadow

Parliament has been urged to assert itself as the third arm of government to enable it perform its oversight function effectively.

Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, who made the call indicated that the legislature must be a forum where right and wrong are debated but where right prevails and not partisanship.

He lamented that over the course of Ghana’s democracy, its Parliament has become like the hidden button on a shirt and only becomes important when another button gets torn off.

Haruna Iddrisu made the call when he addressed members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) at a confab addressed by the Majority and Minority leaders.

He noted that when Parliament reduces itself into a clearing house for executive embarrassment, it fails to deepen the practice of Separation of Powers.

According to him, under the 7th Parliament the Minority, in the exercise of its mandate, has been able to build consensus where it was necessary and compelling in the national and public interest to do so.

“There were instances we had to walk out and boycott to register dissatisfaction or disagreement with the action of government or the executive.”

“There had been moments when debates itself have suffered for want of time and that should not be the case.”

“For instance, we have a budget read by a Minister of Finance and the minority opposition party rises to critique it, and within five or ten minutes you are told to sit down; and yet the minister was given one to two hours to present same.

“Mr. Iddrisu argued that political opposition where it is proactive and genuinely sincere must reflect beyond the needs and wishes of the political party it represents.

“It becomes the mirror to reflect the concerns and aspirations of the Ghanaian people. We must be the voices for the voiceless,” he said and cited the ban on second hand vehicles and the Public Universities Bill as examples.

The 7th Parliament, he said, has done its best and stressed at least the House has passed two important legislations that would contribute to Ghana’s democratic future namely the Special Prosecutor’s Act.

Majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, in his address stated that the 7th Parliament has been the busiest in the anals of Ghana’s democracy.

According to him, over its four year term the 7th Parliament considered and passed over 230 bills and lamented that the core of the members whose invaluable services helped in the legislation are not coming back.

Democracy, he said, is not a winner take all matter and noted that the next Parliament should set the standard in improving Ghana’s democratic governance and the operations of Parliament.

He pointed out that the voting pattern in the 2020 election is a statement that should compel the frontiers of consultation and concensus building in the 8th Parliament.

My Publisher 24.com/Osumanu Al-Hassan