PARLIAMENT COMMITTED TO DEEPENING DEMOCRACY — SPEAKER (PAGE 47)

Story: Kwame Asiedu Marfo & Juliet Aguair, Takoradi

Regional Parliamentary Centres are to be established across the country to serve as points for collaboration and dissemination of information on the work of Parliament.
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes, who disclosed this, said the centres would also provide the opportunity for all Ghanaians to participate in its work.
Mr Hughes was speaking at the opening session of a parliamentary forum on “Strengthening the Legislature through Public Engagement” in Takoradi.
The forum, the last of a series of Regional Parliamentary Outreach programmes, was sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and attended by the leadership of Parliament, some Members of Parliament, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, students, civil society organisations, as well as the general public.
Mr Hughes said since the inception of the Parliament of the Fourth Republic in January 1993, various efforts had been made at strengthening both Parliament and parliamentary services to enable the House to effectively discharge its duties under the constitution.
He said Parliament had developed an Enhanced Strategic Plan that laid the foundation to address priorities critical for an effective parliamentary institution for the nation.
“Parliament is an institution of and for the people and provides opportunity for the voices of the silent majority to be heard in its representational role,” he said.
Among the three arms of government, the Speaker said, Parliament served as the body with the responsibility of ensuring that through the Members of Parliament, views of all Ghanaians found expression in the bodypolitic.
Mr Hughes noted that the creation of a forum in which Parliament and the people that it represented, came together to have close interaction was an important step in forging a close bond between the House and the electorate and that this would greatly help in advancing the cause of meaningful democracy.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr A. E. Amoah noted that democracy was a good thing and that the government would do all within its power to sustain it.
He pointed out that as a people, we were partly responsible for the action and inaction of those who were voted into office.
“We need to be interested in what they do and to ensure that they serve our interest,” he said, adding that “this we can do by constantly keeping in touch with our parliamentarians”.
He said it was important that people knew what went on in Parliament so that they could make informed choices in the exercise of their democratic rights.
“This parliament outreach programme is indeed a very useful exercise and should be sustained as a means of enlightening the Ghanaian about the responsibilities and privileges of a parliamentarian” he said.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prapram, Mr E. T. Mensah, who represented the Minority Leader, noted that the demands of the people from the MPs were many.
He explained that the Executive arm of government at the local level were the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies whose functions had been explained in the law establishing them.
“There is nowhere in the law that MPs are assigned these responsibilities,” he stressed.
He said the development role MPs played was the consideration of the budget by Parliament.
The Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Abraham Osei Aidoo, said Parliament had made progress in the development of the state.
He urged Ghanaians to take an interest in the activities of parliamentarians in their areas, especially during election, adding that “we are going to be judged by what we are doing in the elections”.
Therefore, he advised all to assess candidates during this election before they were voted into power.
The Programmes Coordinator of Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Mr Samuel Opoku-Agyakwa, pointed out that the forum had brought Parliament as an institution closer to the electorate hence promoting good governance.
He said such interactions demonstrated how well-informed the Ghanaian population was in the governance of the country, adding that “the foundation will continue to support the growth and development of Parliament”.