Adopt proactive conflict resolution mechanisms in addressing differences – Kan Dapaah urges MPs
National Security Minister, Kan Dapaah has charged parliamentarians to fashion out strategies in working together.
In his view, the unpleasant and acrimonious scenes witnessed in the chamber last year threatens the democratic gains achieved so far.
Speaking at this year’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Association workshop on the theme: ‘Effective parliamentary scrutiny, gender sensitivity and complexity,’ he urged Members of Parliament to adopt conflict resolution mechanisms in addressing their differences.
“I think an appreciation of this fact [hung Parliament] will enable the bedrocks that arises from a hung Parliament or near hung Parliament to be considered as necessary formats which will enlist the application of proactive conflict resolution in Parliament such as consensus building and joint problem-solving approaches rather than confrontational means, which more often than not, end up fueling disagreement and unnecessary entrenched positions of the two sides of the House,” he noted.
He added that “it is a hung Parliament and the best system. We need to be able to work together to realize the benefits of the hung Parliament.”
The Speaker of Parliament has also urged the Majority caucus to prioritise consultations in their decision-making processes with regard to the business of the House.
Speaking at the same workshop, Alban Bagbin noted that this is the only way the activities in the legislature will run smoothly.
“The only way is to get the two sides to consult and to dialogue with each other, to cooperate, to compromise, to collaborate to achieve consensus, this is an imperative imposed on us political leaders by the people of Ghana, we have no choice,” he said on Monday.
The past year has seen the most physically aggressive House in the history of the fourth republic.
On January 6, 2021, the election of a Speaker ended in fisticuffs after the process turned chaotic.
This was climaxed by the exchange of blows later in December during the deliberation over the approval of the controversial Electronic Transactions Levy (e-Levy) which was contained in the 2022 budget.
The hung nature of Ghana’s 8th Parliament has been an underlying factor in all these situations.
Source: Ghana News
