Member of Parliament for Odododiodoo, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, has expressed his disapproval of the appointment of MMDCEs on partisan basis.
According to him, there is the need for government to reconsider its stance on such a move. He revealed that it must be possible for somebody to aspire and serve the society and community, and not be in a partisan position to be offered that opportunity.
“I agree totally with the election of MMDCEs and I’m 100% for it. What I’m against is electing DCEs on partisan basis. I want a situation whereby I could decide tomorrow that I have between a member of parliament and the mayor of Accra – I can contest for anyone. So, when I’m going to contest for a Member of parliament then I would go on a political ticket but when I want to contest as the mayor of Accra, I don’t need the political ticket so that anybody else who doesn’t want to be partisan in our society, especially looking at the way our politics has degenerated into factionalism and division.”
Nii Lantey Vanderpuye
Responsibilities of legislators to constituents
Commenting on the concerns raised by some stakeholders on the need to take a relook at the 1992 constitution in terms of delineating what an MP should do compared to other jurisdictions in terms of development, Mr Vanderpuye indicated that the problem in this country is the fact that sometimes conversations of such nature must be viewed in the social context.
He explained that unlike US, Ghana has a social construct that makes it impossible for an MP to delineate himself from social problems.
“In our traditional setup, when you are elected as an MP, the people see you as the one who could possibly resolve some of the problems they have. It’s also such that by our societal and traditional norms, it’s difficult for you to withhold support from the needy once you have… So, it’s not about MPs doing what they are not mandated to do, or going beyond their mandate and trying to do things that are not within the constitution. The issue has to do with the fact that you are seen as somebody the society has put in a privileged position and the only person they can come to is you…”
Nii Lantey Vanderpuye
Furthermore, Mr Vanderpuye stated that constitutionally, he does not think the constitution has anything that requires a legislator to be responsible for personal needs of constituents. He noted that rather, the constitution requires that MPs are legislators who make the laws.
Nonetheless, he highlighted that outside the realm of the legislature, MPs cannot also absolve themselves of the liabilities of expectation from his community and people.
“The truth of the matter is that this is seriously affecting a lot of MPs because they now have to go beyond their means to be able to satisfy these demands…”
Nii Lantey Vanderpuye
Also, the Member of Parliament for Odododiodoo emphasized that when it comes to legislators, there’s always those social pressures that come their way. That notwithstanding, he explained that the key to addressing this is for government to recognize the fact that it needs to enhance development in the country in such a way that people will have jobs to do, the vulnerabilities within the society will be limited and minimized so that people will stop depending on others.
“That is the only way that MPs will also be free to focus principally and mainly on law-making. Other than that, they will continue to spend their time addressing social issues more than the legislature…”
Nii Lantey Vanderpuye
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