Parliament is only as strong as its committees – Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs has hinted that his outfit is looking at new Standing Orders that will strengthen the Committee system in Parliament.
Addressing the press on Wednesday, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu explained that the ongoing interactions are to ensure that Parliament remains efficient.
According to him, the House can only be strong when the leadership of committees are strong.
“If you don’t have a situation where the leadership of the committees are strong, you have a problem. I keep saying that every Parliament is as strong as its leaders or as strong as its committees make it.
If the committees are not strong, Parliament will be rendered, excuse my language lame and limb. Which is why it is important to look at the composition of the leadership,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister, who also doubles as the Majority Leader, said it has been proposed that the new Standing Orders of Parliament should create room for chairpersons of parliamentary committees to be shared among eligible members of Parliament solely on merit or shared among political parties.
The current arrangement enables the majority party to assume headship of all the committees in Parliament.
For the Minister, this is imperative because the President selects his best pick from the legislators to assume Ministerial roles. The remaining are those made to sit on committees.
“It is necessary because the ruling party, due to imperatives of the Constitution, will have to surrender some of the core members of Parliament to the Executive, to the President to be made Ministers and Deputy Ministers. That then will leave some members of the ruling party in Parliament.
Don’t forget, ordinarily, the President would want to go for the best in Parliament to make them Ministers. So who remains in Parliament?” he quizzed.
Currently, two Parliamentary Committees are headed by the Minority. They are the Public Accounts Committee and the Subsidiary Legislation Committee. According to the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, this “is not prescribed by statute” but “by convention and practice.”
“We need to have a look at that. It is not for nothing that if you are talking about strong committees in Parliament, one that will come to mind is the Public Accounts Committee. Basically because it is headed by an opposition party.” he added.
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted that it is so because should such a position be held by a member from the ruling party, he or she might be blacklisted for frustrating government business and miss out on the chance of becoming a Minister or a deputy.
“Let’s not kid ourselves. A ruling party is elected into office to ensure that its programmes and policies are carried through.
We don’t want a committee chair to frustrate the government, so chairs of committees who come from the same party as the ruling administration usually will thread cautiously in dealing with matters that come from government.
Don’t forget, the prayer of Members of Parliament is to have the opportunity to be made a Minister or Deputy Minister. You don’t want to cross the path of the President just so you are not blacklisted,” he said.
Source: Ghana News
