Politicians asked to cultivate tolerance for opposing views

Page: Spread lead. Mon Feb 1, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast, Cardinal Peter Turkson, has admonished politicians to have passion for justice, tolerance and the mutual respect for the views of opponents.
He noted that the situation where politicians opposed issues when they were in opposition but saw nothing wrong with those same issues when they were in office, did not augur well for the development of the country’s democracy.
Cardinal Turkson was speaking at the opening of a week-long orientation seminar for Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Fifth Parliament of the Fourth Republic currently underway at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) at Achimota near Accra on Saturday.
The orientation seminar is to usher in the new MPs into Parliament so that they can find their right bearings within the parliamentary environment while old and experienced ones would be afforded the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the legislative work.
Cardinal Turkson made it clear to the MPs that the sovereign will of Ghanaians was for MPs to exercise corporate leadership and that was borne out by the results of the December 2008 election in which no party won with an absolute majority.
He stated that the current composition of Parliament demanded that both sides of the House built consensus instead of adopting entrenched positions in the discussion of issues, for common positions with the interest of the Ghanaian as the basis.
“Ghanaians have vested their trust in you to lead them. It is, therefore, your job to pursue the attainment of the goals and aspirations of the people,” he said.
Cardinal Turkson asked the MPs to consider their roles as divine, since leadership was a task of God.
He further explained that it was for that reason that a passion for justice, tolerance, mercy and respect for each other’s views was imperative.
In her keynote address, the Speaker of Parliament, Mrs Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo, noted that since the legislature was the cradle of democracy, Parliament had to foster public awareness at all times bearing in mind the scrutiny of its activities by the public.
She reminded the MPs that since the people had entrusted them to exercise political authority for and on their behalf, any act of commission or omission would not be glossed over by the media and the public.
Mrs Bamford-Addo stated that the Fifth Parliament of the Fourth Republic would be evaluated and judged just like previous Parliaments, adding that the success or otherwise of the current Parliament would depend on the effectiveness of the assimilation of the rules and procedures of the House and the efficiency of MPs in the delivery of their legislative work.
“You must always remember that the capacity of members of the House to perform their oversight responsibility will be questioned when weaknesses in the quality of our work as parliamentarians are exposed,” she said.
Mrs Bamford-Addo said Parliament was aware of the need to place the required equipment at the disposal of the MPs to assist in creating the enabling environment for them to effectively discharge their parliamentary duties saying that “as Speaker, I assure you of my support and encouragement throughout the tenure of this Parliament.”
She expressed her gratitude to the Fredrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), DANIDA and the Parliamentary Centre for funding aspects of the orientation and the Rector and staff of GIMPA for hosting the MPs.
The Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, reminded the MPs that it was not people with high academic credentials that made good MPs and, therefore, called on them to use the workshop to learn tit bits of legislative work to get a good start as MPs.
“The most important ingredient of an MP is the human touch which is learnt through experience and a listening ear,” he said.
A former Electoral Commissioner, Justice V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe, who chaired the function, told the MPs that Ghanaians expected much from them, adding that “you should, therefore, work hard in order not to fail them.”