Barely a week after the declaration of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the President-Elect of the December 2020 presidential elections, some Governance Experts have made passionate appeals to both the New Patriotic (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be strategic in their appointment of persons to represent them at all levels.
One of such strategic appointments, they said, are the appointments of a new set of talented Members of Parliament (MPs), other than the current leadership, who will lead both parties in Ghana’s next Parliament.
“The expectation of Ghanaians is that, a new set of talented MPs be appointed into the leadership of both sides of the next Parliament of the Fourth Republic, other than the existing leadership,” they told the media in Accra.
The Governance Experts, who stated their positions in separate interviews with the media in Accra, are, John Otabil, Kofi Amoateng Okrah and Efua Okyere.
Speaking to the media over the weekend, the three Governance Experts, who were analyzing the composition of Ghana’s next Parliament, the Eight Parliament of the Fourth Republic, said, “from all indications and given the recent developments by way of our parliamentary representations on both sides of the House, it is important that, the leadership of both the NPP and the NDC make strategic appointments of elected MPs into the leadership of both sides of the House.”
They indicated that, among the various strategies that would work for both parties in Ghana’s next Legislature, will be that, “both the NPP and the NDC will have to sit up and do a thorough brainstorming and to look out for the individual talented MPs to take up the responsibility of leading the Eight Parliament of the Fourth Republic.”
They told the media that, by their votes, the Ghanaian electorates expect Ghana’s next Parliament to act differently from the previous Parliaments of the Fourth Republic so as to make the needed impact in the governance of the country.
This, they said, is key in ensuring that, they carry out their constitutional mandate as Members of the Second Arm of Government and to also live up to their expectation in all respects.
To the Governance Experts, the next Parliament should not approach parliamentary activities as business as usual, as happened in the past but noted that, it is critical and incumbent on the MPs to strive to assert themselves in all spheres of national life as the duly elected representatives of Ghanaians.
According to the Governance Experts, if the House is afforded the opportunity of such new set of talented MPs in the leadership of the House, it will help inject vibrancy into its activities and also help strengthen it to hold the executive accountable to their acts of omission and commission.
They indicated that, these new set of leaders to be appointed into the leadership of the next Parliament, will represent the aspirations of the people, who by their voting patterns, have sent clear signals to Ghana’s Parliament of their disapproval of how business of the House had been approached and transacted over the years.
“Monitoring discussions on social media on the trend of voting for MPs into Ghana’s Legislature, it is evident that, the Ghanaian electorates voted the way they did, because they wanted a total change and overhaul of the House, especially its leadership, which the discussions indicate, should be a new set of talented MPs, who could blend diplomacy with consensus building to ensure that, the House carries out its mandate within the framework of the law,” the Governance Experts said.
