The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, has raised concerns over the lack of interest in the rudiments of law making by majority of Ghana’s legislators.
According to the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South, not more than ten legislators contribute to law making daily. The current Parliament is made up of 275 members.
He said if he was asked to make an assessment as Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader, on the parliamentarians who show interest in legislative drafting, “I cannot count more than six to ten members of parliament, particularly, even the young ones that you call the newcomers; I probably can narrow to even five newcomers who are interested in the rudiments of lawmaking daily.”
The Minority Leader was speaking at a working dialogue with the core leadership of Parliament on the need to nurture career legislators.
Recognising that Ghana’s democratic story is one of success in Africa, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu posited that the monetisation of Ghanaian politics is creating an unstable Parliament and endangering the nation’s democracy. The monetisation, he continued, would probably mean that democracy, in the future, would be the preserve of the rich and elite, and commended the forum which examined how to deal with it.
He had earlier cited the inability of the country to punish vigilantism, which, he said, was a threat to the democratic process of Ghana.
“… However, there are eminent and major threats to Ghana’s democratic process. Notably vigilantism and our inability to push it.
“And now, more recently, the monetisation of our democracy which will not only create [an] unstable Parliament, but will undermine the entire democratic process and deny the people of Ghana, what is largely described as democratic dividends. It appears today that democracy in Ghana is on sale when it comes to competitive democratic politics…,” he said.
The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who was present at the forum, expressed similar concerns. He explained that the experience in legislative drafting was not gained in a limited time, say the first or second term of a legislator. He explained that the longer an individual stayed in the House, the better such person becomes in the drafting of legislation.
As a result, he advocated that MPs stay longer in the House to be able to gather the necessary experience to bring to the fore in law making.
“Ultimately, an enactment affects the lives and living conditions of the people, and Parliament and parliamentarians must get it right. Law making, arguably, the greatest function of Parliament, is a tough nut.
“The measure of the toughness is in the number of parliamentarians that we see in the plenary when bills are being drafted, just as the Minority Leader has alluded to. Making two terms with law making is not a four-year or eight-year matter. In other words, it is not a one term or two term business. The longer a person stays in Parliament, the better he becomes in this endeavor,” the Suame Legislator observed.
Organised by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the forum was on the theme; ‘Nurturing Career Legislators in Ghana; Prospects and Challenges.
The working dialogue also identified the institutional and systematic factors fueling the high attrition rate, and undermining the object of building a Parliament with the requisite skills and competencies to execute its mandate.
The post Less than 10 MPs show interest in law-making -Haruna appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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