For some time now the house of parliament and some members of parliament have come under severe attacks by some groups and individuals in society.
They go about insulting, denigrating and tarnishing the reputation and integrity of the house and its Honourable members.
The fact is that, individuals may have their issues with the system, the house of parliament and or the members of parliament but the office of Parliament is constitutionally established to perform its high duty to protect and promote democracy and rule of law.
Often, there are these allegations that Members of parliament are corrupt, they extort money and take bribe. Usually, the story arises from individuals and groups but these allegations are not substantiated and the delinquents always retract and apologize when they are summoned by the privileges committees.
Things have degenerated to the extent that some members of parliament have been killed by unscrupulous people out of hatred. Our disrespect for members of parliament and the office of parliament is affecting the country’s democratic process and we need to be careful about that
The Parliament of Ghana was established by Article 93 (1) of the 1992 Constitution after Three failed attempts earlier at practicing parliamentary democracy. Ghana gained Independence in 1957 and subsequently suffered the first coup d’état in 1966.
The Second Republican Parliament of 1969 lasted only 27 months. On 31 December 1981 the Third Republican Parliament of 1979 was also overthrown. Parliament was therefore suspended until 1993 when the country returned to Constitutional Rule under the 1992 Fourth Republic Constitution.
Parliamentary democracy has been entrenched since the inauguration of the 4th Republic with political power alternating between two political parties, National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP). Currently, the membership of Parliament stands at 275.
We all remember Ekow Hayford member of the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana representing the Mfantsiman Constituency in the Central Region on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He was killed on 9 October 2020 while returning from a campaign tour, Hayford was gunned down by unknown assassins. This occurred on the Abeadze Dominase – Abeadze Duadzi – Mankessim Road on his return from a campaign trip. He is reported to have been attacked at about 1:00 am Friday morning by six armed highway robbers. Reports indicate that Hayford was incidentally identified as the MP during the robbery and was specifically targeted and shot by the robbers, who blamed him for the problems being faced by the people in the country.
On February 8, 2016, Mr. Danquah-Adu was murdered in cold blood at his residence at Shiashie, a suburb of Accra.
It is quite frightening the way members of parliament are being insulted and disrespected and if care is not taken it would affect the smooth running of the country’s democratic system. Parliament is an arm of government playing an important role of making laws.
It about time we give maximum respect to the house of parliament and the members of parliament and refrain from insulting them with unprintable words whiles giving them the needed support to executive their constitutionally mandated duties to promote constitutional democracy in Ghana.
The parliament or legislature plays an important role in the life of a nation. It thus perform three main functions: a) make new laws, change existing laws and repeal laws which are no longer needed; represent and articulate the views and wishes of the citizens in decision making processes and oversee the activities of the executive so that the government is accountable to the people.
Achieving good governance requires the existence of a strong, effective and efficient parliament. This is so because parliament plays a crucial role in gauging, collating and presenting the views and needs of the people, articulating their expectations and aspirations in determining the national development agenda. As oversight body, parliament helps to identify problems and policy challenges that require attention and assists in overcoming bureaucratic inertia.
The existence of a parliament is not synonymous with democracy, but democracy cannot exist without a parliament. Democracy, in its various manifestations over the centuries, is by far the most coveted political system that serves to link government to the people. A democratically elected parliament is the only true voice of the people and accountability to the people it serves is the basic plank of a democratic system and one of its core principles is the principle of political equality, meaning that political power should be distributed as widely and evenly as possible among the people.
This principle is captured by the adage: government of the people, by the people and for the people.Nevertheless, the very nature of democratic rule has been the subject of fierce ideological and political debates. These debates boil down to the attempt to answer the following central question: Who are the people? 3. In trying to answer this question, one should bear in mind the fact that one of the core features of democracy is the principle of political equality, meaning that political power should be distributed as widely and evenly as possible among the people.
This brings in turn another question: who constitutes “the people”? Simplistically the answer could be: the entire population. In practice, 1 UNDP/IPU, Global Parliamentary Report, 2012. 2 Lincoln’s Gettysburg, address delivered in 1864 at the height of the American Civil War. The Role of Parliament in Promoting Good Governance however, every democratic system has some restricted political participation, sometime very severe restrictions. Since the early 1990s, there has been a growing interest in issues related to democracy and good governance around the world.
This phenomenal growth of interest reflects, in part, the increasing acceptance of the fact that democracy and good governance are not a luxury, but a sine qua non requirement to promote sustainable social and economic development (Haider 2008). Democracy, which is the basis for good governance, provides space for all people in a given society to interact, intervene and participate in issues that affect their lives.
Consequently, good governance implies participation, transparent, accountable, effective and equitable management of the public affairs where the actions of public officials are guided by rules. Good governance also implies that public resources and authority are used to benefit the entire community. In practical terms, democracy and good governance require, among others, active participation in decision making processes by the people, directly or through their duly elected representatives, parliaments and/or associations.
Thus, participation not only recognizes people as citizens but makes government more representative of, and responsive and accountable to, the people it seeks to serve.
5. Governance entails a series of decision-making and their implementation. It is the quality of these decisions and the manner by which they are implemented that determines the effectiveness of governance.
The quality of decisions and the effectiveness of their implementation will depend on a variety of factors, ranging from the constitutional/legal and ethical, the human and material resources, the working environment, leadership, commitment and the political will, as well as the pattern of decision-making and its management.
6. The parliament as an important arm of the State has a crucial role in promoting and protecting democracy and good governance thereby establishing not only the necessary check and balances, but also developing norms and standards for institutions of democracy and governance. The role and functions of parliament to promote democracy and good governance assume great significance today in view of the basic principles and assumptions associated with parliamentary democracy (Sayeed 1992).
A parliamentary democratic system acknowledges the fact that, parliament derives its powers directly from the consent of the people expressed through periodic elections and that parliament is to implement the will of the people, among other functions.
Union Commission (AUC), which has shown a new resolve to deal with conflicts and censure deviation from the norm, through such initiatives as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance, to name but a few. These efforts are reinforced by voices in civil society, including associations of women, youth and the proliferation of private and independent media.
8. These changing conditions in Africa have increased significantly the number of democratically elected leaders on the continent over the last ten years. Throughout the continent it is now generally acknowledged that development is impossible in the absence of true democracy, respect for human rights, peace and good governance.
With the NEPAD as a continent’s development framework, Africa undertakes to respect the global standards of democracy, the core components of which include political pluralism, allowing for the existence of several political parties, workers unions, and fair, open and democratic elections periodically organized to enable people to choose their representatives and leaders freely