Majority leader upset with monetization of politics

By
Christopher Arko, GNA
 

Accra, July 11, GNA – Mr Osei
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, has
expressed upset with the increasing monetization of the political parties.

He warned that if care was not taken “very
soon many institutions” of government, especially parliament, would be taken
over by “people with fat wallets”.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was speaking at a
roundtable discussion organised by his Ministry for the core leadership of
parliament, in Accra.

The programme, which was under the theme
“Institutional credibility and democratic consolidation in Ghana: Parliament in
focus” was also attended by Mr Yaw Osafo-Marfo, the Senior Minister.

Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted elections at the
grassroots and the parliamentary level were becoming increasingly monetized and
said that gave cause for concern.

He asked that the political parties
concentrated not only on improving the structures of the parties but the
welfare of their members.

He said one of the priorities of his ministry
was to make sure that the image and dignity of parliament was preserved and
enhanced.

The success, effectiveness and prestige of any
institution rested on its orderly functioning and the extent to which it
adhered to standards of discipline, dignity and decorum in the discharge of its
duties.

He noted that building credible and durable
institutions took time and that after 25 years of the fourth Republic, it was
about time to take stock of the quality and credibility of the institutions,
especially the legislature.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said there were many
factors affecting the image of parliament but the self-inflicted ones were more
mortal, adding that “it exposes the House and its members to ridicule”.

He complained about some MPs lack of knowledge
of the rules, procedures and standing orders and said these exposed their lack
of interest in executing the mandate given them by their constituents.

He reminded those who had spent considerable
part of their lives building the institution of parliament that, they owed it a
duty to ensure its sanctity.

“It is time for us to dispassionately work
towards lifting up the image of parliament.

We owe it to the people to bring parliament
closer to them so they can appreciate what we do and better understand our
difficulties. This will court their support and empathy.”

Mr Osafo-Marfo, Senior Minister in his
contribution urged parliament to engender its own credibility, saying
“credibility is self-made”.

He said what parliament lacked as an
institution was the institutional ability to supervise the finances of the
country in terms of the budget.

He made reference to the Liberian Parliament,
which has a whole unit of finance with expertise to supervise that nation’s
finances.       

Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader, in his
contribution called for the strengthening of the democratic institutions and
more importantly, value systems.

He said despite the democratic gains, there
still remained threats to the sustenance of the nation’s multi-party system.

He added that as part of the institutional
strengthening democracy in Ghana the state should cap the number of ministers
any President could appoint.

“It is about time we take a bi-partisan
position, as a country, on the number of minsters any President of Ghana, can
appoint”, and he said the same should go for the Supreme Court.

GNA

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