If anyone, visionary enough had said that democracy would be a great threat to Ghana’s development today, I am pretty sure the person who said that would have been treated as a laughing stock. In fact, in it even getting intense and scary, and if care is not taken, over time, Ghana will become the most disrespected democratic nation in the world. One fundamental thing our parliamentarians have taken for granted all this while is that Parliament is a place for serious business, and anything less than this is a disgrace to the nation. This is one of the main reasons why the Constitution of the land has placed them in the position – to make laws that will spearhead the developmental affairs of Ghana now, in the near future, and for the benefit of generations yet to come.
Additionally, they are supposed to be a fountain of wisdom for the young people in this country to tap from, or learn from. However, from the way things are going, it appears the youths are rather teaching our leaders what to do because they are completely lost. Just imagine what happened in Parliament on Wednesday, December 1, 2021. Their behaviour was just like children trying to create a dramatic scene for people to laugh, and for their parents to taken punitive actions against them, in the event of going wayward.
But who is to be blamed for this disgraceful act? The responsibility is a shared one, but a greater part of it should be borne by the leader who presided over businesses of the house on that particular day. Joe Wise, as some may call him, had a greater responsibility to calm things down, and prevent his children from going wayward. He is the father of the house currently, and if things go bad, he is supposed to take responsibility for that. One interesting thing is that this is not the first time this is happening, but I think pulling the speaker’s chair from its original position and dragging it to cause chaos in Parliament is so barbaric. Upon all the monies spent on them on monthly basis to make Ghana a better place for living, this is the insult they have for the citizenry?
Aside the mal-behaviours exhibited by our parliamentarians, the actions of the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Joe Osei Owusu need to be talked about. He has on many occasions in Parliament woefully failed to clearly interpret and apply the Standing Orders of Parliament, as well as the Constitution of the land. On the very day he approved the budget, he violated the below part of the Law of the land:
Yesterday too (December 1, 2021), Joe Wise contradicted himself in a very shameful manner by saying: “There are a few matters which I wish to clarify. First, it must be clear that a deputy speaker is not a Speaker. Indeed, Article 96(1) of the Constitution says, and I quote, “there shall be two Deputy Speakers of Parliament who shall be elected from the Members of Parliament; and to contrast that, Mr. Speaker is not a Member of Parliament.”
He further said: “I am a Member of Parliament, the Second Deputy Speaker is also an MP and our role to assist the Speaker in managing the House. So any attempts to read and interpret the Constitution to include deputy speakers is a misleading.”Â
If indeed, the role of the deputy speakers of Parliament is to assist the speaker in successful execution of his duties, or to manage the affairs (or businesses) of the house, what has he been learning from Right Honourable Alban Bagbin all this while?
It appears he does not even know the fundamentals of the Standing Orders and the Constitution, and I believe this is the time he has to make a conscious effort to be in touch with past speakers of Parliament, and more importantly, Alban Bagbin, to learn key essentials of the law, to prevent further disgrace.
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