MP’s must assert independence or lose importance — Ayeboafoh

Page 14, May 1, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

THE General Manager in charge of Newspapers at the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh has called on Members of Parliament (MPs) to either assert their independence or risk losing their importance in the country’s democratic dispensation.
He said coupled with the desire of political parties to win power, MPs appeared to have surrendered their own power and authority to play subservient role to the executive, stating that despite some constraints imposed on Parliament, MPs could make better impact on the people if they objectively discuss policy issues.
“What is clear from our Constitution is that MPs do not depend on the President for their office. They are independent and they are to act as check on the President”, he said.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh was delivering a paper on the theme “The role of the former MP in a Democracy: The US experience and Best Practices” at a seminar for members of the Forum for Former Members of Parliament in Accra on Wednesday.
He said there have been many well-meaning Ghanaians who have expressed misgivings about the excessive powers and authority vested in the President, explaining that the awesome and overwhelming powers included appointment of ministers of state and other public institutions.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh said in certain circumstances, the presidential candidates held the key to parliamentary candidates.
He explained that that had translated into the inability of Parliament to reject nominees for ministerial appointments, although the authority to nominate and approve was mutually exclusive.
He added that neither the authority of the President to nominate nor the power of Parliament to approve was complementary to the other.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh said that the unintended consequence was that Ghanaians, including MPs themselves, held the impression that being a minister of state, no matter the portfolio, was more prestigious than an MP, although one could never be a minister of state if one was not qualified to be an MP.
“What it means, therefore, is that either by omission or commission, the relevance of the MP to national development and democracy is under-realised while they serve in the office, because of the application of the party whip”, he said.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh noted that what was imperative was for all Ghanaians to appreciate the fact that Parliament was the basis of the country’s representative democracy and without it; there would be no representative democracy.
He said, however, that one aspect of the country’s democracy had been that winning an election was everything and due to that, the deliberative processes of Parliament were sometimes by-passed.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh cited the recent debate on whether the Chinnery-Hesse Committee report on the emoluments, salaries and end-of-service benefits of certain Article 71 public office holders, was actually passed by Parliament to buttress his point.
He therefore advised members of the Forum to speak to the general public to enable them understand Parliament as an institution, to enable them to better gain a sense of how they could join the dialogue of democracy.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh also encouraged them to speak to the media to enable them give a balanced sense of the strengths and weaknesses of Parliament and give its activities good coverage.
He also called on members of the Forum to help mentor and train new MPs,as some will serve as a link between the executive and the legislature and advise on policy formulation, especially from experiences gained as members of chairs of Parliamentary committees.
A former Member of Parliament for Ellembelle and First Deputy Speaker, Mr Freddie Blay called on politicians not to play politics with the economy “since we will all benefit when times are good and suffer when times are bad”.