Speaker of Parliament has charged Members to eschew unguided utterances and open vituperative attacks on one another to showcase leadership by example.
According to him, Parliamentarians owe a duty to convince their supporters this is the way to go in national discourse to advance the agenda of nation-building.
The Speaker, Rtd Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin made the call Monday at a special sitting of the House during which he was presented with the coveted Millennium Excellence Award for Member of Parliament of the Decade.
The award is in recognition of Speaker Alban Bagbin’s immense contribution to national development as a Member of Parliament. He was decorated with a sash and presented with a plaque in the shape of the map of Ghana and a citation.
Addressing the House afterwards, the Speaker noted that the award is a manifestation that conducts both on the floor of the House and outside the precinct of Parliament are under scrutiny.
He stressed that it is a reflection of the fact that the House is constantly being monitored and assessed in the performance of its duties by the generality of the public.
He averred that the award has been won through the good work of not just himself but the entire House and represents a loud call to duty of all members, to the extent that the aspirations of the electorate and the people of Ghana would be served.
He said, “It is therefore imperative that our conduct both in and out of the House reflects the trust reposed in us by the citizenry.”
“We owe it as a duty to the present generation and generations yet unborn, to ensure that as a people, we eschew unguided utterances and open vituperative attacks on one another to showcase leadership by example.”
“Hon Members, we have to work together in harmony to preserve and enhance the peace and development of our dear country,” he added.
According to him, the award also represents a call on the general public to partner with the Legislature to ensure a broad participatory approach in the state’s democratic dispensation.
Mr. Bagbin noted that the passage of the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989) and the adoption of the guidelines for the introduction of Private Members’ Bills in the Seventh Parliament provide opportunities for the public to actively engage in the governance of the nation through parliamentary processes.
He disclosed that through the collaborative work of the Leadership and Members of the House, the revised Standing Orders is before the House to provide further avenues for public-parliament engagement.
New provisions, he said, have been included in the new Standing Orders to open up Parliament and make the work of the Legislature more transparent and understandable to the people.
A Petitions Committee, he disclosed, will be constituted to create the platform for channelling petitions to the House and indicated that access to proceedings of Committees would also be made easy.
He disclosed that Committees of the House will now generally sit in public except under exceptional circumstances where they will sit in camera.
Source: MyPublisher24.com