IT’S been reported by a section of the media that some of our Honourable MPs behaved in an un-honourabale manner in Abuja, Nigeria, recently. This happened when Ghana’s parliamentary delegation travelled to Abuja, Nigeria, to be sworn in as ECOWAS parliamentarians.
ACCORDING to the report, Ghana’s delegation was left stranded outside the legislative house in Abuja. This was because the speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament declined to swear in the Ghana parliamentarians. The reason being that the names presented were more than the available seats for Ghana.
UNDERSTANDABLY, we were supposed to present a list of eight (8) Honourable MPs. However, it turned out that our MPs were nine in number. And it did happen that the MP for Suhum, Hon. Fred Opare Ansah, who had been a member of the ECOWAS Parliament, until the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Majority in Ghana’s Parliament reconstituted Ghana’s delegation to Abuja, refused to step down. That development was what compelled the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament not to swear in Ghana’s delegation.
FOLLOWING that incident, many have described it as an embarrassing spectacle to Ghana. In the first place, was the issue not discussed on the floor of Parliament and the number of Ghanaian MPs who were supposed to be in the ECOWAS Parliament not communicated to all the 275 MPs?
CLEARLY, one can deduce that not all the 275 MPs knew about the reconstituted Ghana parliamentarians who were supposed to be on the ECOWAS Parliament. We believe if that issue had been communicated to all the MPs we would have saved ourselves from such discomfiture.
WHAT happened in Abuja does not bode well for our Parliament which is supposed to carry Ghana high wherever members find themselves. It’s a shame that that such a thing should happened to our legislature.
WE have heard some civil society organisations (CSOs) call for an investigation into the matter. In fact, we agree with such a call.
FOR instance, the Executive Director of African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEP), Dr. Rasheed Dramani, recommends that the Privileges Committee of Parliament looks into the matter critically so we avoid a repetition of it.
THIS was how he put it, “we just hope that if the Privileges Committee looks at it, it’s not an issue that at the end of the day, the committee is going to pass behind their colleague or colleagues and whoever is responsible for this embarrassment, but where hopefully we can see some lessons learnt and measures put in place, because after every election, we are going to have a reconstitution of this delegation.”
TODAY agrees with Dr. Dramani and also thinks that the object of such an investigation should not be to punish but find out what went amiss so that steps are taken to avert a recurrence in future. Parliament is a dignified institution and thus its image must always be kept as such.
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