Parliament constitutes one of the three arms of government and it remains a fundamental requirement in every nation’s practice of modern democracy.
It thus has a critical role to play in promoting democracy and good governance to achieve sustainable development.
In addition to their principal role as legislators and representatives of the people, parliamentarians are expected to play a major role to make sure that government spending is in line with the intended and agreed purposes to prevent corruption or misuse of government funds.
The role of Parliament in ensuring the judicious use of the public purse is, therefore, critical if the country is to avoid some of the pitfalls in the management of state resources.
Last Thursday, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) held a press conference at which it severely criticised Parliament for its weak oversight of government spending which has resulted in the country’s increasing budget deficit.
A spokesman for the IEA is reported to have said that the blame for the rise in the country’s budget deficit from 4.8 per cent in November 2011 to 6.7 per cent in July 2012 and 11.8 per cent in December of the same year “should be placed squarely on the doorstep of Parliament”.
We cannot agree any less.
Since Ghana’s return to constitutional rule following the election of 1992, it has been the case that all our parliaments have been made up of representatives with a majority having won the Presidency as well.
Because our governments have always enjoyed large parliamentary majorities, parliamentary approval for any action has not been a problem. So while Parliament is expected to serve as a check on the Executive, the partisan nature of the various parliaments has left very little room for objective analysis of issues by the august House.
Take, for instance, the issue of budgets. While it is the case that both the National Democratic Congress-dominated Parliaments of 1993-2000 and 2009 to date and the New Patriotic Party ones of 2001-2008 introduced some very good policies in their respective budget statements, none of those budgets ever received commendation from the Minority side.
A lawmaker is on record to have stated that as the Minority spokesperson he would be failing in his duty if he avoids criticising the budget.
Such is the case that even when it is clear that a government policy would lead the country into trouble, the Majority side would support that policy, while a good policy stands the risk of being unnecessarily criticised by the Minority.
The Daily Graphic is of the view that the time has come for all Members of Parliament, irrespective of their party affiliations, to look at issues from a non-partisan viewpoint in the interest of the country.
If a government introduces a policy, we expect that our parliamentarians will look at it not with their party political lenses, whether they are in the Majority or Minority.
We need to establish the framework for regular co-operation between the Majority and Minority in Parliament to ensure that we will have useful suggestions from the Minority in Parliament and a listening Majority at all times to make our practice of democracy more purposeful.
