A Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana, Ransford Gyampo, has expressed disappointment in the practice of appointing Members of Parliament as ministers, insisting the move hasn’t helped.
According to him, the lawmakers have always put the interest of their respective parties ahead of the interest of their constituents.
Prof Gyampo bemoaned the focus of parliamentarians on party interest. He explained that the legislative arm of government is supposed to use its power to counter the powers of the executive arm of government when necessary.
In light of this, Prof Gyampo stated that the parliamentarians under the fourth republic have failed badly.
“The practice where we appoint Members of Parliament as ministers hasn’t really helped. Once you are appointed as minister, it becomes difficult for the minister to go to Parliament to oppose and subject whatever is emanating from the executive arm of government to rigorous scrutiny.
“There are also Members of Parliament whose party is in government and who are not appointed as ministers. They also see that the more they shout ‘yeah yeah’, the more they improve their chances of being appointed ministers in the event of a reshuffle.”
Prof Ransford Gyampo
Prof Gyampo explained that the legislators who get appointed by their party in power, becomes complacent in ensuring the activities of the government is given the required scrutiny and transparency.
Commenting on Parliament’s role in exercising oversight responsibility on the public purse, Professor Gyampo stated that although the current Minority Caucus has made some strides in averting government from including some unnecessary items in the budget, it has approved virtually every other budget that has been presented to them.
Rating of parliamentarians
Meanwhile, Prof Gyampo has graded Ghana’s Parliament three out of ten points, revealing that in his evaluation, parliament has not lived up to its expectations.
He indicated that his assessment is based on the four roles of Parliament, which includes representation, legislation, oversight responsibilities, and being in control of the public purse.
“Over the week, I gave an assessment of Parliament and I felt that if you asked me to score them, I will give them 3 over 10 and some people came for remarking, so, I increased it to three and a half over 10.”
Prof Ransford Gyampo
Addressing the role of representation, Prof Gyampo explained that it is the duty of legislators in parliament to represent and satisfy the interests of constituents, national, and partisan interests. Nonetheless, he highlighted that it is apparent that from 1992 till date, Members of Parliament have sought to satisfy the interests of the political party they are affiliated to and, in effect, neglected to protect and satisfy the national and constituents’ interests.
“If you are asking me to rate them in terms of their representation function, then they have not performed so well. It appears the political parties outside Parliament or the parties to which they belong wield a lot of influence, and want to control these individual parliamentarians more than the constituents should do, and that’s how come oftentimes, when there’s going to be parliamentary elections, MPs who have not done so well in protecting the interest of their constituents will go there begging.”
Prof Ransford Gyampo
Prof Gyampo equally assessed the remaining roles of Parliament and concluded that parliamentarians have performed woefully in those areas as well.
Prof Gyampo’s comments followed Ghana’s Parliament commemoration of its 30th anniversary of Parliamentary Democracy under the Fourth Republic. The celebration is under the theme: ‘Thirty years of Parliamentary democracy under the Fourth Republic: The journey thus far.’
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