The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Bagbin says a significant number of the Parliamentary Service staff earn salary every month for doing nothing.
According to him, the situation has persisted because of lack of monitoring and supervisor by managers of various units in the House.
He wants the situation improved and charged the newly constituted board of the Parliamentary Service Board to work out a work ethics for the staff.
The Speaker who heads the institution also pledged to address some of the concerns of the staff including promotion and career progression.
“This board must work collectively to improve upon the work ethics of staff. It is a fact that there some staff members are hardworking and giving off their best for Parliament but it is equally true that there is a significant number whose contribution is nothing to write home about.
“Indeed there are some who basically have no schedule and virtually do nothing yet are paid by the state every month, this I think must change if we want to be a module parliament in Africa,” he said.
The membership of the Parliamentary Service Board include the Speaker, the two Deputy Speakers though they have no voting right.
The other are the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia; former Majority Leader, Abraham Osei Aidoo; Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu; Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu and the Clerk of Parliament.
The Board among others exists to facilitate the work of Parliament through the provision of support services to the House including its committees and agencies for the purpose of ensuring full and effective exercise of the powers of Parliament.
It also has the responsibility of promoting the welfare of Members of Parliament and Staff of the Service and general control of the management of the Service in matters of policy.
The Speaker is unhappy with the low capacity of Parliament in the exercise of its oversight roles.
He added that the House is needs to attract qualified drafters to ensure full utilisation of the Private Members Law but the lack of control of the Parliamentary enclave remains a big challenge.
“Our Parliament continues to receive high ratings internationally, however, its rating in the area of oversight is unsurprisingly low and I say this because we lack the needed personnel and resources to carry this role effectively,
“That is why I called the Finance Minister and the Secretary to the President to complain about the budgetary cut and this must be fixed,” Mr Bagbin added.
The former MP also tasked a committee chaired by the majority leader to discuss with government proposal by parliament to takeover and control the current enclave housing the legislature.
“The current location of Parliament belongs to controller of households’ under the office of the chief of staff and as a house we have no control of movements of people to and from parliament and this is a great security risk.
“We are in discussion with the president to cede the enclave to parliament and I can say the president has given his commitment to this request,” he stressed.
Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu wants the House to address the high attrition rate, while the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu says the house must work to build capacity of MPs and staff of the Service.
Credit UPI.com