Anthony Akoto Osei, the Member of Parliament for Old Tafo Constituency, has called for a total deviation from monetization of parliament.
Speaking in an interview, he noted that, individuals wind up as Members of Parliament because the money they are privileged to have and are well positioned to “buy” the delegacy, and not because they particularly want to work and represent their people.
“I think we need to move away from this monetization of Parliament and that is why I think the separation is important. Now, people become MPs because they have money. They buy the delegacy and sometimes they don’t even come to Parliament.”
He further stated that, the quality of debate in Parliament “is not improving”.
“When I first went to Parliament and Hon. J.H Mensah got up and spoke, He held the attention of both sides with his wisdom. Now, parliamentarians are not learning much to be able to contribute. It is not about making noise, you have to read.”
According to him, Members of Parliament do not read or study documents no matter the size, adding that it is difficult for them to adequately contribute or make salient arguments on an issue.
As such, political parties need to evaluate their constitutions and parliamentary delegacy fees should be looked at so that people who are actually interested in working can have the opportunity to afford them.
“I think all parties need to review their constitution to bring [Parliamentary filing fees] down. We need to decide as a nation what we want our Parliament to do.”
On August 5, 2020, the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said the monetization of politics was creating an unhinged parliament and jeopardizing the country’s democracy.
Speaking at a forum on the need to nurture career legislators, Mr. Iddrisu explained that the canker has affected parliamentary activities including laws regarding vigilantism “and our inability to punish it.”
“More recently, the monetization of our democracy that will not only create an unstable parliament but will undermine the entire democratic process and denying the people of Ghana what is described as democratic dividends”.
Haruna Iddrisu further lamented what he believes is the dwindling number of members interested in the real work of lawmaking in the current parliament.
“It appears today that democracy in Ghana is on sale when it comes to competitive democratic politics. If you were to ask me to make an assessment, even when it comes to legislative drafting, I cannot count more than six to 10 members of parliament, particularly among the young ones that we call newcomers.
“I probably can narrow down to only 5 newcomers who are interested in the rudiments of lawmaking.”
On his part, the Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also added that, the work of lawmaking requires a lot of experience and as such, MPs need to stay longer in the house to effectively execute the mandate.
“Coming to terms with lawmaking is not a one-term or two-term business. The longer a person stays in parliament, the better he becomes in this endeavor”.
