Former Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, has intimated that the President assenting the E-levy Bill doesn’t come as a surprise.
According to the former MP, the move by the President underscores the fact that this is a government that is unyielding and a government that is not listening to the concerns and aspirations of the good people of Ghana. He indicated that if government was listening to the people, the nation will not be where it is by passing the E-levy in the manner that it was passed.
“It’s a routine that when Parliament passes a bill, the constitution has a time frame within which to assent to or decline the bill. Their entire economic policy has been hinged on the E-levy so we’ve seen him assent to it with a lot speed and alacrity. So, I am not surprised.”
Ras Mubarak
According to Ras Mubarak, there is a lot that is wrong with the economy and the basis upon which the economy will recover will be through prudence and accountability. He averred that there should be prudence in the management of the nation’s resources but he doesn’t see that happening under the current Finance Minister and the government.
“I don’t see a lot of accountability in terms of the monies that they are spending. If you come to Parliament and you tell the people that we’ve spent a billion dollars in feeding people, that is not enough without breaking it down into the minutest detail. Time and again we have seen the Finance Minister evade or avoid scrutiny on some of these details.”
Ras Mubarak
Ras Mubarak was of the view that unfortunately, Parliament has not lived up to expectation in terms of “holding its balls” in dealing with the issue of accountability. “Even in some instances, Parliament would have invoked its power to subpoena and I have not seen that and that is a bit disappointing.”
There’s been failure to build consensus
Touching on what hasn’t worked for Parliament, the former MP indicated that there has been the failure to “build bridges, mend fences” and to build consensus to get the country running. “There’s been instances where you have one side sticking to their guns and the other side sticking to theirs. You will have tempers flare up and chaotic scenes like we’ve had in the past in Parliament.”
According to Ras Mubarak, the business of running the country is a serious business and anyone who finds himself at the helm of leadership will have to be reminded by the fact that they are not there only for those who voted for them but even for those who did not vote for them. He stated that there is a greater need to always seek to build consensus.
“You would expect that in the light of the economic need the finance minister has plunged us into, there would have been some form of conference or summit of civil society, political parties including the ruling government to sit down and agree on the way forward for the country but I have not seen it.”
Ras Mubarak
The former MP averred that there is a lot of arrogance and unwillingness by the ruling government to reach out to their opponents to help run the country. He noted that the Speaker of Parliament has constantly hinted on the need for the leadership of the house to meet in agreement and get things going but it has still not been seen.
“You can’t run a Parliament where you put the interest of the people without being in agreement with each other. They have to wake up to that.”
Ras Mubarak
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