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| Parliamentary Speaker pleads for public support |
10/10/2005 |
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Parliamentary Speaker pleads for public support
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi-Hughes, has disclosed that, after a decade of constitutional rule in Ghana, the Parliament, which is the highest decision making body in the country, was still confronted with numerous constraints that occasionally hampered the work of the House.
Appealing to all well-endowed Ghanaians to support efforts at resourcing the House to effectively address the concerns of the citizenry, Mr. Sekyi-Hughes hinted that members of parliament still do not have offices to keep private files or undertake their private activities.
“Committees of the House meet in open corridors,” he contended.
The Speaker of Parliament made the appeal in Tamale, Northern Ghana, at the relaunch of the annual Parliamentary Forum, which is aimed at bringing Parliament to the people.
According to him, though various projects were currently underway to address the accommodation needs of the House, there was still the need for all Ghanaians to assist in the immediate completion of the projects to enable their representatives in Parliament have the peace of mind to champion their causes.
Mr. Sekyi-Hughes also debunked the assertion by a section of the public that Parliament was inaccessible and assured them of the open door policy of the House, which allows constructive suggestions and comments about the activities of House through appropriate channels.
“The Fourth Republican Parliaments have chalked significant successes in discharging their constitutionally mandated role. A total of 242 Bills have been passed into Acts of Parliament since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1993,” he said.
He announced that, efforts were underway to establish regional Parliamentary Resource Centres across the country, to enhance the strategic plan of the House.
The centres, according the Speaker, would serve as points for the collation and dissemination of information on the work of Parliament.
Mr. Sekyi Hughes stated further, that the Regional Parliamentary Forum was decided by the entire leadership of the House some years ago to expand its outreach programme to cover all regions in the country by instituting the forum, which is aimed at fostering a collaborative and interactive relationship between Parliament and civil society.
He noted that the House was embarking on these programmes as a collective entity and not as representatives of political parties. He therefore called on all Ghanaians to eschew partisan considerations and seize the moments offered by the programmes in their communities to have issues related to the work of Parliament clarified to them.
Mr. Sakyi Hughes therefore entreated Ghanaians to make fruitful suggestions, ask questions and offer criticisms that would at the end of the day, move the nation forward.
He however disclosed that, the decision to commence the nationwide forum in the northern region was to show Parliament’s appreciation towards the efforts by the chiefs and people in the area to choose peace and working to promote sustainable development, which he said was in line with the agenda of Parliament.
On the other hand, both the Majority and Minority leaders, Mr. Felix Owusu-Agyapong and Mr. Kingsford Alban Bagbin, spoke on the roles of the minority and majority members in parliament respectively.
The representatives of the House at the forum received from the Chiefs and people of the region over forty suggestions. Prominent among those who offered the suggestions was the Paramount Chief of Kumbungu, who is also the President of the Northern Region House of Chiefs, Nayiri-Na and the Regent of Tamale. All the chairmen and members of the various Committees in Parliament were present to answer questions concerning their committees.
Source :GNA
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