The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin
Mr Alban Bagbin said the democratic fester in Ghana was very pronounced and visible, and questioned if the country was witnessing the passing of the Fourth Republic?
The situation should serve as a wake-up call to the political leaders to be the leaders that they had claimed to be.
“This calls for credible, honest and patriotic leaders not only in politics, but also in all facets of our lives,” he said.
“Ghanaians are losing confidence in national leadership, particularly the political elite. The level of patriotism and the commitment to the national cause of Ghanaians are waning.
“There is a genuine worry about whether the interests and concerns of the electorate and the general public — the people the politicians are supposed to serve — are taken into consideration in the management of national affairs,” he said.
He Mentioned New legislation
Meanwhile, the Office of the Speaker is working with a number of civil society organizations to come up with new legislations to address the monetization and corruption in the country’s body politic.
“I hope all political leaders must be ready and willing when such legislations are brought forward and enacted,”
Talking On The Fourth Republic
To him, “the spell of instability was broken, and Ghana now holds free, fair and credible elections with smooth and commendable democratic transitions from a party in government to one in opposition,”
He also noted that the majority in parliament had transitioned into an equal representation, presided over by a non-member Speaker whose party was not in government.
And that, the multi-party parliament of five active parties had become a duopoly of two major parties.
However, Ghana is backsliding in its democratic journey, stressing that the recent call on Ghana and Ghanaians to accept the reality and collectively stand up to the challenge of lawlessness and national disintegration “is a call that must be responded to decisively”.
The Parliament
The speaker acknowledged that, some of the irregularities is blamed on the weakness of parliament, saying “these happenings are loud evidence of parliament not measuring up to the standard expected of it in the performance of its functions and duties”.
He therefore, called for re-establishment of parliament through an all-inclusive and vibrant legislature to reverse the downward trend of democracy in Ghana.
“Protecting our democracy must, therefore, be the responsibility of all Ghanaians. We must work towards the strengthening of the institutions of democracy and other state institutions in order to make our democracy strong”.
“We must protect our democratic practices, processes and capability. Indeed, we must reinforce the representational role of parliament, and by extension public participation in the work of parliament if we desire to continue to celebrate many more stage of parliamentary democracy.
The Commitment
He said the legislature had decided to set up a Citizens Bureau within the Parliamentary Service for an effective engagement with the public and a to widen participation in the work of parliament.
“The bureau will work to institutionalize parliament-citizens engagement through partnerships with the media, civil society organizations (CSOs) and think tanks. The bureau will develop and maintain a database of CSOs and think tanks operating in Ghana, and provide the media and CSOs with the opportunity to easily share information and research findings with parliament while accessing relevant information from parliament to support their work,”
Source: OccupyGh.com
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