MP Stirs Up Parliament

Parliament has begun a vigorous brainstorming exercise with the view to finding means of fulfilling some of its constitutional obligations that had been outstanding over the years.

The law-making body was awakened to its neglected responsibilities by the MP for Hohoe South, Hon. Kosi Kedem, when he made a statement on the floor of the House yesterday.

The appointment of an auditor to audit the accounts of the Auditor-General, provision of the delimitation of Ghana's territorial sea and enactment of laws on the rights of disabled persons are among many duties the august House had reportedly fallen behind schedule in performing.

According to Hon. Kedem, Parliament, since 1993, has carried out some of its obligations, such as the ratification of laws on Children's Rights, the jurisdiction of the Regional Tribunals, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the National Resources Commissions.

However, there still exist other equally vital constitutional obligations needed to be accomplished by Parliament.

The inability of Parliament in fulfilling some of its constitutional obligations, the MP said, is due to 'inaction or deliberate administrative manipulations,' which do not augur well for improvements in parliamentary responsibilities.

He therefore demanded that Parliament be seen to be living up to expectations, no matter the constraints faced.

Hon. Kedem farther described as unfortunate the inability of Parliament to execute its constitutional oversight responsibility on the executive branch of government as a result of over politicisation of issues in the House.

Consequently, he criticised the way and manner approval of annual budgets are compromised where no critical examination of the financial policies is done, as well as the relaxed manner in which bills laid before Parliament are sometimes treated.

In support of the statement, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, MP for New Juaben North, encouraged Parliament to take a serious approach in handling issues that have so far not been taken up by the House to enhance its achievements.

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Hon. (Mrs.) Grace Coleman, MP for Effiduase-Asokore, asserted that Parliament should be setting the pace in identifying the lapses of the House and should not wait for it to be criticised by the public, adding that members should take up responsibilities and rectify situations likely to damage its image.

Meanwhile, Parliament, during its second meeting, would enact a total number of 10 bills, including the Juvenile Justice Bill, Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill, Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill and the Labour Bill among others.

A total number of 10 papers, including the report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Consolidated Fund) for the period ended 31st December 1999 and the ILO Convention 1973 (No. 13 8) concerning minimum age for employment among others would also be laid.

The Agreement between the Republic of Ghana and the OPEC Fund for International Development for the encouragement and protection of investment was also laid and referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report.