Parliament makes giant strides — Bagbin

Page 15, Feb 24, 2010
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

AS he leaves office as Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin says the institution of Parliament has made giant strides from 1993 to date.
He said there had been some progress in the rules, processes, structures and systems in the institution.
“We could do better if the institution of Parliament were properly anchored in the Constitution and resourced,” he said.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Bagbin said notwithstanding the bottlenecks, Parliament had been able to move from a few inexperienced technical staff and MPs to have experienced technical and professional staff and MPs.
“Today, Parliament is seen as a store of experts and consultants from various parliamentary institutions throughout the world,” he said.
He noted that the House had also moved from a position of conflict between the Majority and the Minority, as evident in the frequent walkouts between 1993 and 2000, to one in which democratic space had been created between the two sides.
Mr Bagbin, who is also the MP for Nadowli West and Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, noted that the situation had ensured more conducive debates on the floor of the House.
He added that Parliament had moved from the period when political opponents were seen as enemies to now when opponents were seen as brothers and sisters in the same boat.
He said the House now operated on consensus building and was going through the transition from partisanship to national position or interest.
“We need, however, to do more work so that instead of the saying ‘Let the Minority have its say and the Majority its way’, both the Majority and the Minority will have a say so that the national interest will have its way,” he noted.
Mr Bagbin stated that much had, however, not been done in the provision of infrastructure for Parliament and gave the assurance that as the incoming Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, he would work towards the rehabilitation of Job 600 to be used as offices for MPs.
He said there was the need for Parliament to be strengthened with the provision of a well-stocked library, a resource centre for both MPs and the public and a media centre to enable journalists to efficiently operate from Parliament.
Mr Bagbin, who is in his fifth term in Parliament, rose through the ranks to become Minority Leader for eight years before assuming the position of Majority Leader when the NDC returned to power after the 2008 general election.