From Democratic Stability to Economic Development: Charting Ghana’s New Paradigm (4)

By Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye

There was a lot of hullabaloo over this allegation but when the dust seemed to have eventually settled, out of the blue came an allegation by a sitting Member of Parliament that attempts were made by a prospective Minister of State to bribe opposition members on the Parliament’s Appointments Committee ostensibly to influence them to approve his nomination to the office he had been nominated for leading to all sorts of allegations, counter allegations and problems.

The rest of the story is in the public domain and everybody knows what transpired. When the Parliamentary Enquiry Committee set up to investigate the matter presented their findings and recommendations to Parliament on the matter, what followed on that fateful day was something Ghanaians would not forget easily in the years to come.

There was a near brawl among some members of the august House largely due to the use of indiscreet language and action by some Members of our Parliament. That incident was a clear departure from what Ghanaians have come to associate with our Parliament and has left a sour taste in the mouth of the Ghanaian public who hold the house in such high honour and respect.

There is no doubt that Ghanaians respect their MPs and hold them in high esteem. They know that after their debates in the House, members from opposing sides share jokes, stories, food and drinks together, because even though they belong to different political camps, they see themselves as opponents and not enemies. Besides, many of the members are schoolmates or classmates; they share similar business interests, belong to the same professions, come from the same regions, belong to same tribes and Churches or denominations, support the same European clubs, like Chelsea, Manchester United, Real Madrid or Barcelona, among others.

These shared interests and the fact that they see themselves first and foremost as Ghanaians desirous of helping their nation to move forward albeit from different ideologies, go a long way to foster a sense of togetherness among them. Therefore, to have allowed emotions and passions to escalate to the level of a near brawl that fateful day is to say the least very appalling and embarrassing.

Indeed, worse things have happened and continue to happen in other jurisdictions elsewhere in the world but this is not an excuse to justify what happened in Parliament that fateful day. We are Ghanaians and only the best is good for us. We want to learn from the best democratic practices in the world, not the worst. This may be the first time that such a thing has occurred but we must pray and hope that it is also the last.

It bears no repeating here that our democracy is still novel and fragile and therefore any complacency in political actions and behaviour that may suggest that we have already arrived must be eschewed and done away with completely. Old and experienced members of our Parliament must endeavour to show good example to new and young ones and mentor them by both word and action while new and young ones must be humble enough to learn from the example and experience of their “senior” colleagues and not be in a rush to become instant heroes or heroines in Parliament.

The recent allegation by the UK High Commissioner to Ghana that a former Member of Parliament and three sitting members of the current Parliament have engaged themselves in what seems like a visa fraud and are therefore going to be banned from travelling to the United Kingdom for the next ten years, is shocking and appalling.

Not that everybody agrees with the posture being adopted by the UK High Commissioner over this matter but what this latest exposé has done is that it has once more brought the image of Ghana’s Parliament under the microscope and for the wrong reasons. Nevertheless, we must remain hopeful that this issue will be dealt with in a manner that befits the honour and dignity of the house of Ghana’s Parliament, and not simply to use it to rubbish the whole Institution and bring its name into disrepute.