Member of Parliament for Oforikrom in the Ashanti Region, Emmanuel K. Marfo has suggested what he termed three “practical and realistic” ways that electorate can utilise to demand accountability from parliamentarians.
Speaking on Connect FM political program, Asem Yi Dzi Ka, he first mentioned that citizens must understand MPs’ workload as their representatives to push for development projects.
He believes understanding the duties of MPs will enable citizens assess their performance and demand accountability. He noted “parliament exhibits accountability by allowing the public to visit parliament house in the course of proceedings”.
He therefore called on National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to educate the public on the constitutional duties and responsibilities of MPs.
Stressing on accessibility as the second of making MPs accountable, Mr. Marfo urged electorate to have access to their MPs contacts to enhance easy communication. He also urged electorate to ‘knock at the doors’ of their MPs to seek explanations on acts of parliament and any behavior of their MPs they find bizarre as a sure way of making MPs accountable.
He added, it is expedient for every MP to have an office to receive views, resentments and other concerns from electorate. This, he said, will make MPs responsive to the plight of their constituents, and therefore urged electorate to insist on MPs having offices within their constituencies. “Parliament house is in Accra and so it will be difficult for constituents to visit their MPs in Accra to address issues,” he noted.
The third prescription, the Oforikrom MP called it “sanction mechanism”; that every eligible voter exercising his or her franchise by voting for or against a candidate is a way of demanding accountability from MPs.
“One way to demand for accountability is to vote to express your mind, forgoing that privilege is a lost opportunity to demand accountability”.
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