Service to constituents vital in Parliamentary democracy— Dr Ransford Gyampoh
A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Ghana, Legon, Dr Ransford Gyampoh, has said the outcome of the New Patriotic Party ( NPP) parliamentary primaries show that those who upheld the fiduciary trust reposed in them by the constituents were rewarded.
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He, however, said those who did not were threatened, warned or booted out.
Again, Dr Gyampoh observed that those who had issues and demonstrated mastery of how to tackle challenges confronting their people or constituents were also rewarded.
Sharing his perspective on the outcome of the NPP primaries in an interview yesterday, he declared that representative democracy was not all about achievement and competency in Parliament.
“It has more to do with serving the interest of constituents who when democracy was practised in its classical form in ancient Athens, were the direct repository of the power to govern,” he asserted.
According to Dr Gyampoh, “MPs owe their existence to constituents. It is, therefore, completely out of place for elected representatives to be preoccupied with secondary issues, build career and gain even international recognition in them while relegating interest of constituents to the background.”
This makes you a worse MP, he told the Daily Graphic and further pointed out that “you can achieve all the success in Parliament and gain all the international reputation and goodwill but if you do not serve the interest of your constituents, you are not worth your salt as a representative.”
In representative democracy, Dr Gyampoh opined that it was the voice of the ordinary people expressed through delegates that mattered.
“It is not about machinations and tactical manoeuvrings to keep people in Parliament simply because they have experience in parliamentary work and have achieved some international reputation; it is about what the people say,” he stated.
In the view of Dr Gyampoh, the first and foremost duty of Parliament and parliamentarians is not law making, arguing that, with astronomic growth in sizes of population, the direct democracy gave way to representative democracy.
In political science, he said representation simply meant acting in a manner that effectively promoted the interest of the constituents and not parliament and not even political parties.
According to Dr Gyampoh, the interest of political parties was not always that of constituents.
“Any other interest becomes secondary. If they (MPs) represent our interest, we will keep them there,” Dr Gyampoh asserted.
New entrants
On new entrants, he said those who had also gained some name and goodwill were also given the nod largely because the people wanted to show pride and lay claim to the achievement of the children of their soil.
He said a giant achiever who hailed from a small community was an incentive for receiving the supporting nod from the constituents.
Women who lost
He said he was particularly excited about the NPP’s affirmative policy action they attempted to introduce recently.
What worsened the matter in the view of Dr Gyampoh was the fact that women themselves, who were the expected beneficiaries, did not show support for it “and so I am not surprised that some women MPs were kicked out”.
“We, as a nation, will continue to fight and lose the battle against women marginalisation if women themselves do not form a constituency to support initiatives aimed at empowering them,” he stated.