On Monday 21st of November 2022, Joyce Bawah Mogtari, Special Aide to Former President John Mahama, stated that public hearings such as the current censure motion for the finance minister, ought to be normalized in the country.
Joyce indicated that, public hearing is one of the best ways to demand accountability, transparency and probity in other jurisdictions . She added that it allows for citizens to witness how probes are carried out, and how best the people that the citizens sent to parliament represent their interests.
“Indeed, it is also important that we start to establish some key parameters for our blooming democracy. As we evolve, as it develops, as we reform ourselves to suit the democratic path that we have chosen, we will continue to witness some of these encounters where people are directly robed, and accountability demanded by persons who owe all of us a fiduciary duty.”
Joyce Mogtari
According to her, a minister of finance ought to avail and subject himself, and ought to be willing and prepared for any queries. She also mentioned that in parliament there was time for questioning and there are various ways that the Speaker can establish various committees to hear some of these matters that are of grave public interests.
“So, I am actually looking forward to us regularizing such hearings where ministers, members of government who fall below certain standard, are required to respond publicly, so that Ghanaians can follow the discourse and discuss amongst ourselves and help our leaders to arrive at more responsible ways of managing our country.”
Joyce Mogtari
Joyce stated that in most countries, once there is a motion of censure, or a vote of no confidence against an official, the said individual either resigns or the President or leader of the country asks the person to resign before the hearing takes place. However, this was not the case in Ghana, she said, adding that the President has decided to refuse to listen hence, the minority bade their democracy to encourage probity and accountability.
Ad Hoc Committee One Of The Most Useless Committees
Meanwhile, Ellen Ama Daaku, member of the NPP Communications Team, said that she thinks that the ad hoc committee is one of the most useless committees that parliament has ever set up. She said “with all due respect”, that the parliament has wasted money on this ad hoc committee.
According to her, she feels like the committee is one of the establishments that has not served its purpose as expected. She made reference to the constitution on how a minister should be censured and regarded some of the allegations fired at Ken Ofori-Atta as baseless, explaining that according to the constitution, the final decision or power to decide Ofori-Atta’s fate belongs to the President.
“I believe that from everything that has gone on, from what the President said, from all the issues that have gone on in relation to the finance minister, this particular committee, with all due respect in our present situation, that we are all trying to get ourselves out of the economic issues we find ourselves in, I don’t think it was a very useful venture but, parliament is a master of its own rules.”
Ellen Ama Daaku
She emphasized that this was her personal opinion on the establishment of the ad-hoc committee, and she mentioned that the finance minister acquitted himself during the censure meeting on Wednesday, although people may not agree with his answers. She believed that the finance minister performed very well, and one thing she admired about the finance minister was his calm demeanor and posture amidst the provocations from all angles.
