An important arm of the state which acts as the citadel of Democracy is Parliament. The over 35 million Ghanaians are represented by the 275 elected members of the House.
Their roles include legislation, that is making productive laws for the people either through the initiative of Members, Private Members’ Bills or from the Executive.(Bills).
Deliberation: Here, members are expected to debate on national issues. They must speak up on all national issues facing the country, from the economics, education, infrastructure, water, energy, sports etc.
Members must not be mute.
Oversight: This is where Parliament through the members are expected to check the Executive, the Judiciary and other agencies of the state.
It has an important Committee called the Public Accounts Committee that has the mandate to carry out such financial investigations after the Auditor General has completed its job of auditing State organizations.
Sadly, the outcomes of the PAC job are null. No punitive measure is taken against the perceived culprits. It is only for optics.
Parliament is also expected to vet, approve or disapprove the nominees of the President. The Ministers, Deputy Ministers, the Supreme Court judges including a Vice President nominee as we saw in the vetting of HE, Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur when HE John Dramani Mahama chose him after the demise of HE President Atta Mills.
The Appointments Committee is mandated to carry out that task.
Other roles being played by our elected representatives include statements where members are allowed to make statements on any national or constituency issues. They also have the right to question duty-bearers on matters affecting the nation or their constituencies.
They also scrutinize and interrogate the budget of the Government as introduced or presented to the House by the Finance Minister on behalf of the President.
They pass the Appropriate Bill into an Act which gives the Executive the power to spend.
It has been alleged that our Honourable Members of Parliament take or even charge individuals and institutions who appear before them before they carry out their constitutional and official assignments.
These allegations levelled against Parliament ( Members of the House)are serious and they should not be allowed to be embedded or buried. They must be investigated into to to establish the facts or otherwise.
We see some members of the House acting saintly and have become crusaders against corruption from other homes or places, which I applaud them for.
Ironically, they hardly see the rots within their own home or government when they are in power.
It will be a great idea to investigate the allegations as claimed by Manasseh Azure, a journalist in his latest book.
Parliament represents the people as their salaries, vehicles, conditions of service, medicals and other expenses are incurred or paid for by the citizens. The population must the facts.
I have confidence in the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon.Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin to institute an independent body to investigate these serious allegations against the institution he oversees.
It must be noted that most citizens have negative or awkward perceptions of the Parliament and this must be corrected to bring back the confidence and trust the citizens used to have in the second most important institution in our democratic setting.
Parliament during the time of Honorable Mensah, Owusu Acheampong, Doe Adjaho, Alban Bagbin, Nana Addo, Osafo Maafo, Kwamena Bartels, John Mahama, and other notables (1996 Parliament) should be emulated by the current Parliament.
That Parliament has been described as the best in the Fourth Republic.
The current Parliament, which has earned many accolades including ‘the boxing Parliament,’ the money-taking Parliament, the noise-making Parliament and other sickening names must do well to refine and reform itself before it expires on the sixth of January, 2025.
The question lingering in the minds of many is, is our current Parliament corrupt?
God bless our homeland Ghana and make it great and strong.
Ahmed
The Servant