The Parliament of Ghana is a unicameral legislature composed of 275 members. Representatives are elected for a four-year term, and there is no limit on the number of terms they can serve. The Parliament is headed by the Speaker, who chairs a five-member Parliamentary Service Board.
Ghana’s Hung 8th Parliament & The Way Forward
GHANA’S HUNG 8TH PARLIAMENT & THE WAY FORWARD
The Parliament of Ghana is a unicameral legislature composed of 275 members. Representatives are elected for a four-year term, and there is no limit on the number of terms they can serve. The Parliament is headed by the Speaker, who chairs a five-member Parliamentary Service Board.
A Parliamentary Service supports Parliament, with the Clerk to Parliament as the Chief Executive Officer. The Service provides professional, technical, and administrative support to Parliament and its committees. Parliament is presided over by a speaker who is nominated by the majority party in Parliament.
The Speaker is not a Member of Parliament but must possess the qualifications to stand for elections as a Member of Parliament. A Member of Parliament who is elected as Speaker must resign his seat as a member.
The Speaker is assisted by two Deputies, who must not come from the same political party. Both the Speaker and Deputy Speakers are elected by Members of Parliament at the first meeting of a new Parliament. The Speaker presides over all sittings of the House and ensures that order is maintained at all times.
Ghana reduces number of Ministries
Since the inception of Ghana’s 4th Republic, the governing party always had an overwhelming majority representation in parliament but the 8th parliament ushered in equal numbers of Members of Parliament and one independent Member of Parliament.
This is the history of Ghana is considered the first of a kind for Parliament to have 170 male MPs from both sides and 20 female MPs from the divide plus the independent MP representing the Fomena in the Ashanti Region.
Many Ghanaians thought that this would help the legislature to play her oversight responsibilities and sharpen the country’s democracy.
At the end of the 2020 parliamentary race, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) garnered an equal number of seats, with both parties securing 137 seats apiece. This has since become a serious issue of concern to some Members of the NPP who think policies and decisions of the current government would be blocked by the opposition MPs.
Though the fears of these NPP members are politically expedient, proper management of this phenomenon would go a long way to strengthen our democracy and promote good governance.
To ensure that the current composition of this Parliament works in the collective interest of Ghanaians, the parliamentarians also supplemented the will of Ghanaians by the election of Rt. Hon Kingsford Sumana Alban Bagbin, an NDC member, as the Speaker.
This blend of His Excellency Nana Addo and Rt. Hon Kingsford Summana Alban Bagbin is a signal to both parties that Ghanaians demand from them national integration and unity, key determinants of national development.
Benefits of WAM Magazine
"It’s true President Nana Addo may face challenges in pushing policies through this Parliament, but that’s not entirely bad. Checks & balances are key to promoting good governance. Let’s ensure this unique 8th Parliament works for the collective interest of Ghanaians, not just one party." #GoodGovernance #CollectiveInterest #Ghana
It is indeed true that President Nana Addo would not find it easy pushing his decisions and policies through this current Parliament. Nevertheless, that cannot be
taken as something entirely bad. After all, checks and balances is adopted to promote good governance for the collective good of all.
A critical assessment of this phenomenon with the lenses of sociological imagination shows that the positives far outweigh the negatives. Nonetheless, it would cost us as citizens not to let this novel parliamentary composition of the 8th Parliament work to promote the collective interest of Ghanaians and not a particular political party as has often been the case.
As Visitors Wandered Through the Exhibition
As a contributory factor to the composition of this current Parliament, the current president and his cabinet would be compelled to make decisions that would best serve the interests of Ghanaians.
This stems from the fact that any government policy or decision that promotes any selfish interest somewhere would not only be contested in Parliament by the opposition but would also be explained to the constituents to make the government unpopular. More interestingly, this will not be carried out by just a handful of MPs but a considerable lot of them.
In another scenario, if the opposition MPs, for selfish partisan interest, decide to oppose any government decision or policy, the government of the day would also use its MPs, the Ministry of Information and perhaps the Information Services Department (ISD) to appeal to the citizens for their support.
At the end of the day, the citizens would be compelled to become part of the decision-making process of the country. Thus, the administration of the country would no longer be left in the hands of the NDC and NPP.
To ensure that the current Parliament works to promote good governance, the Members of Parliament must be compelled to explain to their constituents, government policies and bills that are put before them in Parliament. In fact, this is a role of parliamentarians that the Ghanaian lawmakers have long trashed into the political dustbin.
The government of the day must also address ‘Fellow Ghanaians’ from time to time to draw their attention to loans, and other government decisions that are being taken to promote their welfare. When these are done, the citizens would resist their representatives in Parliament for any attempt intended to frustrate the President.’
Hope for the Future
Despite the possibility of the country’s first hung Parliament delaying the government’s business, it is the best thing that has ever happened to Ghana’s democracy as it has started positively impacting the economy, including forcing the government to cut down on the number of ministers, thereby, reducing the burden on the public purse.
The country has already started seeing the benefits of a Hung Parliament as the President was forced to scrap some ministries due to a requirement of the constitution that the majority of ministers must be chosen from parliament.
Hence, the President had no option but to reduce the number of ministries in order not to weaken his party’s strength in the House. But scrapping some ministries means a reduction of the wage burden on the public purse.
Another advantage we have benefitted from is the reduction in the number of ministers and that has reduced the pressure on the public
purse. The benefits of being a minister come with vehicles, fuel allowances, wages, and many more. So at least the pressure on the public purse is reduced to 88 ministers from 128 ministers in the last administration.
Another reason the discussants gave as the advantage of the hung parliament is the no-more-rubber-stamp structure in the House where the government gets to push whatever agenda through, even if is not in the interest of the masses.
A typical example is the famous Agyapa deal that was opposed by the opposition but still made it through parliament because the ruling government had a clear majority in the last administration.
Making a Difference
“What is also going to happen is that, because the NDC and NPP have the same number of seats, the government will be compelled to have more collaborations, more consultations, and more engagements with the opposition party before presenting economic policies in the form of budget for approval.
For example, when issues were raised about the Agyapa deal, the government at the time didn’t take the opposition seriously because they had the numbers in Parliament.
But this time, such deals cannot go through. It requires stakeholder consultations and engagements. Ghana is Africa’s leading producer of gold, accounting for 4 per cent of government revenue in 2017. Well-spent, that means money for public goods and services for the country’s citizens. Who wouldn’t want better-resourced health services or improved education facilities?
Given the sector’s strategic importance, it is beyond curious that Ghana is proposing to sell almost 76 per cent of its future receipts from gold royalties to a special corporate vehicle in the British overseas territory of Jersey – a known tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction.
A mysterious company based in the UK tax haven of Jersey, Agyapa Royalties, inserted itself into the middle of what looks like a highly unwise financing arrangement.
Under the deal, Ghana would own 51 per cent of the Jersey-based company Agyapa Royalties and the remaining shares would be listed on the London Stock Exchange.
In return for handing over such a large share of their future revenues, the government has argued that it could raise US$500 million in capital to ease their growing debt crisis by listing the remaining 49 per cent of shares. This values the
rights at around US$1 billion –far less than they are potentially worth, as Ghanian think tank.
Also, In terms of benefitting the economy, there is going to be more scrutiny of executive bills. We saw Agyapa deal and how it was going to adversely impact the economy of Ghana and with a hung Parliament, a deal like Agyapa can not stand.
So if Parliament stands up, and it is not the NPP Parliament or NDC Parliament, but is the Parliament of Ghana, it will do Ghana great service and even help cut cost.
Not forgetting the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy which was presented to parliament by the finance minister Ken Ofori Atta that Ghanaians are supposed to pay a percentage of 1.75 on our electronic transactions which according to the NDC will not be accepted.
This has propelled the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta to withdraw the bill from parliament for reintroduction.
For everything, there are pros and cons but with a hung Parliament, the pros outweigh the cons. In terms of demerit, there could be a delay in passage of laws and government businesses, but it will work in the interest of Ghana.
To also serve the interest of Ghanaians, both sides should work together. This is not the time for any side to want to pull anything out of their sleeves. They should also consider the national interest and reduce the expenditure of the Executive and the legislature i.e the ex-gratia.
Long live Africa, long live Ghana.
Comments
adamgordon
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