The Council of State of the Republic of Ghana has warned that the country risk losing all the gains it has made in Parliamentary democracy since the 4th Republic if measures are not put in place to address the controversies that have characterized the 8th Parliament.
Procedural, institutional, and ego and sometimes fisticuffs, are some of the issues that have characterized the 8th Parliament, with the Council expressing worry that if things stand the way they, the end may not be palatable for all.
In the view of the Council which is made of eminent sons and daughters of the land, they had had high hopes that the experience gained by the Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, over the years, would be brought to bear under his stewardship as the Speaker of the hang Parliament.
Alas, they are scared that their hopes may not be realized if they don’t step in to assist the Speaker to realize his vision for the country.
“We have cause to believe that recent developments in Parliament seem to emerge from the hopes that we had that we thought will strengthen you to achieve that distinction of being the Speaker of Speakers, especially, those developments of a hang Parliament. You have come to the Speakership at a time like this where there are equal numbers of both the Majority and Minority. And that the affairs had to be steered in a such a way that it should be done deftly and with maximum finesse and a lot of tact and circumspection and that you were the most suited person so to carry out such a function”, noted Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siriboe II when he led the Standing Committee of the Council to engage the Speaker on recent happenings in the legislature on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at Parliament House.
He added “However, we have cause to feel that our hopes may not be realized and that we as the 8t Council of State, if we do not give you the support that we pledged and sat down for things to go wary, we would equally be accused of not doing our work as expected of us by the good people of Ghana. Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to bore you with a litany of things that have happened in Parliament because you know about them better than us. There has been institutional; there has been ego issues; there has been procedural issues, there has been a whole lot of issues even fisticuffs, sometimes which needs much to be desired”.
Discussing more about the controversies that have characterized the 8th Parliament, Nana Otuo Siriboe II who is also the Omanhene of Juaben in the Ashanti Region said all is not lost since there is enough time to mend “what has been bent”.
In the process of mending, he said the Council engaged the Leadership of the Minority Caucus on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, for a dialogue on same subject matter, underscoring was very fruitful and refreshing.
“They were very frank with us. They opened up and told us all that they felt and came out of the meeting very much refreshed”, he noted.
According to the Chairman of the Council of State, they made a follow up on the subject matter by also engaging the Leadership of the Majority on Monday, February 28, 2022, noting that the outcome “was equally rewarding and extremely refreshing – very very uplifting and very much to be happy about”.
He said Parliament stands on a tripod – the Majority, Minority and the Speaker, stressing that all these arms are to be coordinated in such a way that there is harmony among them, hence, their engagement with the Rt. Hon. Bagbin to also listen to his side of the story.
The Speaker having listened to the elders of the land said he is equally worried but not surprised about happening in the Chamber and as part of measures to curtail that, he has organized a workshop for the Leadership of the House with some elders of the land invited to moderate and facilitate some of the issues to be discussed. That workshop, he noted, will come off this weekend.
He said he had anticipated all that was happening since a hang Parliament comes with its own challenges.
“None of us is happy the way things are going on but I keep on saying that in spite of the hopes and expectations, tamper it with the real challenges that such a new system will actually offer to us Ghanaians. We’ve never had such a hang Parliament before. And you know governance is usually run by Majority. So, when you fail sometimes to have Majority, decision taken becomes a serious challenge and particularly, the system that we are running. So, my birth itself gave me some clue as to what I’m going to expect on the floor. So, I really understand that I will be meeting some challenges”, he noted.
Commenting further, Rt. Hon. Bagbin said the products of the 2020 elections was also an indication they House was going to face some challenges, noting that “habits die hard. It takes time. And so some habits are changing but slowly and as you said we have no choice. That is what we decided for ourselves so we must learn to live by it and through it, don’t see it as a challenge but as an opportunity to rather deepen, consolidate entrenched democracy in Ghana”.
Another challenge which is also of worry he highlighted was the high attrition rate of Members of Parliament.
“Don’t also forget that because of the high attrition rate of the Members of Parliament, almost every Parliament is a new Parliament. It is not easy when you come to Parliament. It is a different school all together. There is a culture to be built. It is not easy. So, it takes time. I knew with this large transition where we have a large number of first timers, they need time to learn. Last year, I kept talking about them. But with the pressure on Members, it is not easy for them to focus either to read the literature including the Hansard, how to listen to mentors – it is not easy. And so, as I take it easy for the whole of last year, it comes to a time that you have to crack the whip and let people fall in line. And so, in trying to do so, there will be some resistance, particularly, so as from the very beginning. There was sharp division in the middle about who Hon. Bagbin is and where I’m coming from. So, I understand that these things will happen and I’m happy that you have come to try and see how you could support and be able to surmount the challenges and turn them into opportunities”, he noted.
Rt. Hon. Bagbin was hopeful that he will be touted as Speaker of the Speakers by the time the 8th Parliament comes to an end.
Among the Standing Committee of the Council of State that participated in the dialogue were Hon. E. T. Mensah, Her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Woods, Paa Kofi Ansong, Alhaji Aminu Amadu, Prof. Amoakohene, and Prof. Ato Essuman.
