Saturday,
November 8, 2014
Folks, two major events have
happened over the past few days that should engage our close attention.
Primarily, we should condemn them as dangerous and unacceptable because they
threaten our democracy.
First, the refusal by Doe Adjaho,
Speaker of Parliament to be sworn into office as Acting President. Second, the
transaction between the leadership of the Parliamentary Service Board and a China-based
furniture supplier. Two very disturbing occurrences to be commented on in
depth.
(I hear a similar deal has been signed with a Chinese company
for the supply of furniture to refurbish Job 600. Will the citizens act quickly
to stop this transaction or wait for it to be concluded before baring their
teeth? Truly, much water is passing under the bridge!!)
Let’s take the first instance.
The refusal to be sworn in makes Adjaho come across as cantankerous and
ill-informed about constitutional democracy. I don’t know what motivated him to
decline the swearing in, but I can say with all certainty that he isn’t
well-cut-out for the position he occupies. Without being sworn in, how did hope
to function, clearly because one has to be invested with the authority of the
Presidency before functioning as such. And that investiture demands nothing but
a swearing into office. Is Doe Adjaho proving himself right as a lawyer?
I hear that Adjaho has explained
that he NEVER refused to take the oath and that he sat with the CJ and the Minority Leader
to review his previous oath and came to the conclusion that it was not necessary
to take another oath because his first oath could still be binding in the
absence of the President and Veep.
A porous defence. That
explanation even raises more serious questions. The “old" oath was
taken/sworn within a particular period for him to perform the functions with
dynamics that might not be the same for this current one. Is Adjaho saying that
nothing happened to invalidate that oath and that he should have sworn it again
in a new situation?
I don't know the exact
constitutional requirements but I know that anytime someone is to perform the
functions of such an office, that person has to be sworn as such. What would
Adjaho have lost had he simply gone through the motion of being sworn in again?
At least, he could have saved us all this brouhaha!!
Unfortunately for him, the issue
has assumed ugly dimensions to the extent as to even lead to the casting of a
slur on his reputation, carrying over from his days as an MP and what he has
become. Some of his own people in the Avenor constituency are not sparing him.
Is that what he needs at this time in his political career? He has succeeded in
scoring an own goal against the government. Deplorable!!
Now,
to the importation of furniture from China. The anger provoked by the decision
of the leadership of Parliament to importing sub- standard furniture for use by
Parliamentarians reinforces public perception that our Legislature is not
performing its duties properly to help us solve problems. It makes
Parliament a laughing stock, even as it erodes public confidence, trust, and
respect for it. But do they care?
Interestingly,
some of the MPs have also complained just as local furniture manufacturers and
a cross-section of the populace have done. But who cares?
How
much money did the government allot to Parliament for the refurbishment is a
mystery. No one is telling us the cost of the transaction because when it comes
to money matters, both the NDC Majority and the NPP Minority in Parliament
observe strictly the guarded code of secrecy that allows them to profit from
deals of the sort being condemned. Thieves and liars are bound by only one
strong commitment: to keep their mouths shut when they succeed in fleecing the
system. Such is our Parliament and all other institutions of state that are more
wont to cause problems than solve them.
The
citizens are angry and will not continue to be cajoled any more than they can
take. One day, their anger will boil over and they will take matters into their
hands, which will threaten our democracy. That is my prophecy of doom. No
massaging of feelings or promises of development projects can do the trick
anymore. Neither will any show of belated concern or heightened acts and utterances
of political jingoism.
We have heard a claim by Samuel George Nettey (a member of the NDC
communications team) that President Mahama is upset with Parliament’s decision
to import furniture from China. According to him, the action by the
Parliamentary Service Board is in contravention of President John Mahama’s
directive for patronage of “Made-in-Ghana Goods”. That directive itself
is a mere whiff of political jargon because it is not guided by any firm policy
initiative or framework for implementation. A mere hot air!!
This
expression of anger is belated and inconsequential. Of course, it is a
mere face-saving rhetoric that won’t change the situation. We know that once
funds were allocated for the refurbishment of the chamber in which Parliament
does business, the executive might not want to be directly involved in
decisions regarding expenditure. But, at least, it could have an oversight
responsibility, provided it has the courage for doing so and bracing up for the
repercussions. Unfortunately, the Executive didn’t do so.
Thus,
the funds were expended anyhow, leading to what is now being bitterly
criticized as not only a waste of public funds but also as a clear
demonstration of the very shoddiness and insensitivity that have characterized this
crop of Parliament as woefully incompetent and as a threat to our democracy. How
much more does Parliament want to push the people to the wall for them to
spring back with dire consequences for our democracy? I have written many
articles to say that our Parliament can’t be trusted to help us grow our
democracy; and many happenings have proved me right.
Many
questions arise: How was the decision to import the chairs from China made? How
long did it take for the contract to be signed and the transaction completed
without the MPs hearing of anything at the initial stages to protest against?
Who
identified China’s furniture as the best for Ghana, a major producer of the
best timber species in the world? Were the chairs from China made of steel or
any metallic substance to outlast anything wood-based, one might hold back one’s
anger. But from what has begun happening to the chairs, we can tell that the
decision to import the chairs has more to it than the arrival and installation
of the chairs. Will any probe be instituted into the transaction to expose,
shame, and punish any wrong-doing? Does the Executive have the guts to do so?
Many
other questions: Assuming that the deal was cooked in the dark, why would the
leadership of Parliament (made up of both the NDC and NPP MPs, particularly)
keep mute over it? What could be their motivation for allowing the
Parliamentary Service Board to do things on its own to cause this mess? Or do
they not regard it as a mess at all? Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Minority Leader,
has been reported as seeing nothing wrong with the transaction!!
Putting
everything together, we can draw only one conclusion: Our Parliament is not
doing things to instill confidence in the people that it can be relied on to
grow our democracy. It has failed in many ways, which is why it cannot pass into
law a simple bill such as the Right of Information. Because our politicians can
consummate their shady deals under the cloak of darkness, they fear passing
such a law, which will expose anything they hatch to profit from. They can’t
pass that law.
Clearly,
then, we can conclude that our Parliament has focused the searchlight on itself
as a useless institution to be laughed to scorn. If we pin any hope on it to
grow our democracy and if we depend on it to put the government and the
Judiciary on their mettle, it will not take long for our democracy to crumble. This
kind of Parliament is dysfunctional and must not be trusted. It is only creating
conditions for public action to destabilize our democracy. Let them prove me
wrong if they can.
I shall return…
·
E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue the conversation.
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