Saturday,
May 2, 2015
Folks, we have on several
occasions accused our Parliament as the weakest link in the chain of our kind
of democracy that exists only as a mere constitutional formality but isn’t
worth its name or the sacrifices that the Ghanaian tax payer continues to make
for its existence.
In every sense, this kind of
Parliament cannot be relied on to inject dynamism into governance or to make
the Executive function effectively to solve national problems. It cannot
validate itself through effective performance, which is why anytime I hear a
Parliamentarian accuse President Mahama and his team of incompetence or
mismanagement of national affairs, I feel like biting my tongue and spewing it
away.
This Parliament is a drain on
national resources and must be treated with the concentrated contempt that it
deserves. Nothing that it has done or failed to do should be cited and used to
condemn it vigorously for its lack of focus, responsibility, sensitivity, and
commitment.
I have been blunt in attacking
this Parliament because it is not doing what the Ghanaian electorate empowered
it to do. It is just an irritant. How many new laws has it been able to pass to
smooth governance? What has it been able to do to change old laws that have
outlived their usefulness in this 21st century? Two major utterances
by some Parliamentarians provide enough meat for us to chew on as we tear apart
this Parliament.
First, the Majority Leader in
Parliament, A.S.K. Bagbin is reported to have lamented that Parliament is
“powerless” as a result of constitutional provisions that constrain it from
taking on the Executive arm of government (See http://www.myjoyonline.com/politics/2015/April-23rd/parliament-is-powerless-alban-bagbin-admits.php
Second, the NPP’s Kan Dapaah is
also reported to have regretted that instead of the 275 MPs currently
constituting Parliament, the country should have gone for only 104 or, at most,
125. To him, the current MPs are “frustrated and unhappy”. He wondered why there has to be 275 MPs in that house when less than
100 MPs can easily do the job and even less are known to speak publicly on the
floor anyway. (See http://www.myjoyonline.com/politics/2015/April-28th/parliament-houses-275-frustrated-mps-kan-dapaah.php)
These utterances are misguided,
not enlightening at all. They reflect the warped mentality of MPs who should be
ashamed for coming out with them, anyway. I suppose that the silent majority of
MPs hold similar opinions about the very institution that they use to eke out
their livelihood and to make themselves relevant to their political
constituencies. They don’t come across as relevant to me at all. And here is
why.
What is the first major
legitimate function of a Parliament? Is it not to ensure that the Constitution
that guides governance is fashioned to suit the needs of the country, its
people, and foreign partners? And does that legitimate function not rest on
laws that the House is expected to pass?
So, if the MPs are complaining
about constraints resulting from constitutional provisions, why aren’t they
playing the frontline role to have the constitution amended for the benefit of
our democracy? Given the circumstances surrounding the work of the Constitution
Review Commission and the white paper that former President Mills signed to
outline his government’s preferences for constitutional provisions to be
amended—without recourse to Parliament for any input—what has Parliament been
able to do?
Again, now that the process has
stalled and there is no indication that a referendum will be held to determine
which aspects of the constitution should be amended, what is Parliament doing
to ensure that it is respected as a major player in our democracy?
We note with serious trepidation
here the criminal negligence of Parliament in many other areas. Take the bill
on Freedom to/of Information, for instance. For how long hasn’t the government
toyed with this bill to warrant its being taken to task? What has Parliament
been able to do to pass this bill into law so the so-called element of
transparency can be brought into governance? An informed populace will
definitely participate more actively and more productively in governance than
what obtains in Ghana. Are our Parliamentarians satisfied that such an
important bill is still in the freezer, not likely to see the light of day?
Was Kan Dapaah not alive when the
Electoral Commission made moves to expand the constituencies to 175? What
action could he and those thinking like him take to prevent the expansion? What
formula did he use to arrive at the 100, 104, 0r 125 as the ideal number of MPs
for Ghana? What guarantee is there that a lower number of MPs will function
more efficiently than the present crop of 175? The bulls are really shitting!!
There are many other areas, particularly
in respect of laws related to justice delivery in Ghana. Our MPs are lazy,
which is why whenever they accuse the Executive of doing things not pleasing in
their eyes, I laugh them to scorn. Of course, the Executive knows that they are
toothless (not because of constitutional constraints but because they are just
not well-cut-out to function any better than they’ve been doing so far).
A strong Parliament won’t behave
the way ours does. Being the representatives of the people, they will act more decisively
to put the Executive where it belongs, especially considering goings-on in the
country, where no day passes by without something “fishy” being reported as
happening in the corridors of power—be it corruption, plain theft of public
funds, or any other malfeasance.
The Public Accounts Committee of
Parliament is just an avenue for the gushing out of polit6ically motivated
gibberish, especially by the opposition elements. Its annual ritual of
publicizing government’s failures in using public funds is ridiculous. It
doesn’t solve any problem. Instead, it highlights problems to create the
mistaken impression that it is active.
All other committees of
Parliament are mere mechanisms for poppycock!! They don’t function to add value
to governance. What a mess Ghana is in?
There is a curious aspect to it
all. What characterizes this Parliament is the entrenched positions taken by
the MPs of the two major political parties with those belonging to the NPP
eagerly looking for anything related to the Executive to highlight as part of
their stated anti-Mahama agenda.
The shortsighted political
neophytes whose youthful exuberance recommends them more than anything else are
in the forefront, highlighting “misdeeds” by the government as if that is what
they are in Parliament for. The MP for Bimbilla, Ntiwul, led the chorus for a
while but seems to have exhausted his energy, passing the baton on to his
Effutu comrade, Daniel Markins, who is in the news these days, constantly
harping on his “discoveries” on the government’s misdeeds (not paying over 800
million Cedis of workers’ contributions to SSNIT, supervising thievery of
Ghana’s petroleum funds, and many others).
After blowing the horn, what do
they do to prove that they are interested in getting problems solved? Nothing,
except adding such “discoveries” to the annals of the NPP’s allegations of
mismanagement against the Mahama-led administration. No action to compel the
government to do the right thing means nothing to me. Do these loud-mouthed MPs
not know how to do things to “shake up” the government? Or are they looking up
to a superman to emerge from space to act on their behalf?
What these NPP trumpeters fail to
know is that they are in Parliament to do what will put the government on its
toes, not just to blow hot air and end it there as if it is that hot air that
will rock the government into doing the right thing.
In civilized democracies, power
resides with the elected representatives of the people, which they exercise in
full to put the “fear of God” in the Executive. By playing their consistent and
persistent watchdog role, they compel the Executive to act properly or lose
traction. Not so in Ghana.
And why are these MPs rushing to
make such public utterances? To get public sympathy? To prove that they are up-and-doing?
Or that they are playing their watchdog role? Idle-talkers, I will call them.
Our Parliament is a deadwood that
seems to be the magnet attracting all manner of people, especially those who
have failed to make it in their chosen careers and are gravitating toward it as
a last-ditch lifeline. Just take a good look at those there or lining up to go
there at Election 2016 and draw your own conclusion. All they excel in is the
shouting match that they set up for themselves!!
The painful realization is that
while the NPP’s trumpeters dig in to paint the government black, the NDC MPs
also strike a different chord—either by being silent or by effusions aimed at
watering down the force of their counterparts’ calumny. In effect, Parliament
has become an avenue for raw, unmitigated, purposeless, and useless political
posturing. The real business has flown out of the window!!
In this context, it is more than
nonsensical for any MP to make public utterances regarding Parliament’s plight.
If the MPs are efficient, they will take prompt action to empower themselves
and breath hot air over the government’s shoulders for it to wake up to do the
right thing. Unfortunately, our Parliament is so emaciated as not to warrant
being supported in any way.
Let the MPs come out to tell us
that they are “powerless” or “redundant” (if Kan Dappah’s view is to be summed
up this way), and we shall consign them to the backwoods. They are a waste pipe
to be cracked and discarded. Ghanaians didn’t elect them to work as
“cry-babies” but to help solve problems preventing them from living their lives
in decency. Such “cry-babies” don’t deserve any sympathy or support. Ofui!!
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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