Members of Parliament have been challenged to create room for divergence and build consensus on the way out of the present economic challenge bedeviling the state.
Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who threw the challenge stressed that as Parliament considers and approves government’s budget statement and economic policy for the 2023 financial year, there is a need to work together to serve the interest of Ghana, and the constituents they represent.
According to him, it is imperative for legislators to collectively commit to stabilizing the economic turbulence in the country.
“If there was any time in the history of this country that Ghanaians are looking up to the Legislature not the Executive – for solutions to the challenges confronting us as a people, it is now.”
“That is why we must consign partisanship to the background and bring our nationalism to the fore in our decisions and the issues we support,” he said,
Speaker Alban Bagbin made the call in a keynote address he delivered at the 2023 post-budget conference on Saturday November 26.
Partisanship
Members of Parliament, he said, have a fine opportunity in the current economic turmoil to assert the independence and relevance of the House in the governance of the country else posterity will remember them as the crop of legislators who sacrificed Ghana on the altar of partisanship.
He said, “We too easily assume that everything must have two sides and that it is our responsibility to be on one side or the other. This is not true in life. There are not only two sides to a coin. There are more than two sides. Frequently notice that some of the options we take as leaders, only serve to highlight our partisanship and blind loyalty.”
“However, for the benefit of the very citizenry who elected us as leaders, we must remain true to those courses that serve them well.”
Global challenges
The Speaker observed that the present economic times and circumstances, the global challenges, uncertainties, complexities, insecurity and the national moral and psychological decay are extremely challenging.
MPs, he said, cannot pretend and dismiss the obvious regarding Ghana’s severely disorientated economic downward spiral.
According to him, things are getting tougher by the day and while some may assert there is a global economic crisis, others will present data to suggest otherwise and argued the present challenges are largely self-inflicted.
He expressed hope and that of Ghanaians the overtures to the IMF will bring some relief and hope.
Transparency
Speaker Bagbin, however, stressed the absence of openness and transparency can lead to suspicion and a profound sense of despair and hopelessness.
He therefore urged the Ministry and the resource persons at the worship to muster courage to be candid, open and to speak truth to power and quoted former mayor of Seoul in South Korea Park Won-Soon saying, “transparency increases credibility and accountability’ and I will add, and engenders trust and confidence.”
He expressed hope the Finance Minister presented the 2023 Budget in this contest as it will cut out Parliament’s work in its consideration and approval.
He assured the House will interrogate the extent to which the budget provides solutions for the current economic challenges in the short term, and a solid basis for a resilient and sustainable medium to long term economy.
Finance Minister
Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, in his remarks admitted the economic crisis is real and will worsen as international development institutions are projecting tough times ahead.
According to him, if there ever was an economic crisis, this is it and called for creativity and changes in some rules as the government confronts the cur
The 2023 budget, he said, has been prepared within the context of these very difficult economic challenges and stressed the only way to quickly work a way out is to speak a common language and work together to build the resilience of the economy.
Government, he said, had restored the macroeconomic stability and invested about GH¢28.3 billion in growth enhancing and employment creation flagship programmes and social interventions between 2017 and 2019 before the COVID pandemic derailed everything.
The government, he said, is very clear on the technical interventions to revive the economy as before but argued it needs the support of all Ghanaians to succeed.