Absolute parliamentary majority should be magnanimous

Ghana's next Parliament will witness an uncommon composition, with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) holding about two-thirds of the 276 seats in the Legislature.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), which forms the outgoing government, could have just about half of the NDC's seats, with four independent Members of Parliament-elect already confirmed to have sailed through in the December 7 parliamentary election.

The NDC's absolute majority will be a virtual blank cheque to the government, affording the incoming administration the serenity to prosecute its programmes and policies with almost no inhibition in the legislative procedures.

This is what the recent elections delivered for Ghana's political administration for the next four years.

By some kind of coincidence the 2024 general election delivered many historic outcomes as the NDC swept its way to power with an emphatic electoral victory on December 7.

While former President, John Dramani Mahama made history with his return to the presidency, beating the candidate of the incumbent government, Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, with more than 1.6 million votes difference the NDC further gained an overwhelming majority in Parliament.

Although two seats in the legislature are in dispute, the NDC's numbers could render the rest of Parliament mere observers.

With an impressive sense of responsibility, however, the NDC has stated that it will use its vast majority in the House responsibly.

“We have secured a very significant majority, and a majority that we aim to use responsibly and for the progress of the people of Ghana,” the General Secretary of the party, Fifi Kwetey, said at a news conference in Accra.

Being a responsible majority in Parliament includes leading the charge to serve as a useful check on the Executive and the Judiciary by critically scrutinising legislative work to produce the best outcomes for the country.

It also includes providing the necessary support to the other arms of government to ensure smooth operations in their work.

The culture of extreme partisanship has somehow found a way to trim Parliament's powers. In almost all instances, the governing party has formed the majority in the Parliament and has used its numbers to force legislation through.

The outgoing eighth Parliament is a unique case where power is balanced between the NDC and the NPP at 137 seats apiece, with one independent Member of Parliament (MP) completing the list in the 275-seat legislature.

This almost always compelled the government side to employ and deploy all resources to have its way with legislation. In many of the cases, it led to a fractious relationship between the two sides.

Indeed, the acrimonious exchanges were carried out beyond the confines of the Chamber of Parliament as disputes were sometimes tabled before the courts for settlement.

The current Parliament, whose life ends on January 6, 2025, is a special one with unique characteristics while the next, whose life begins on January 7, 2025, is a totally different one.

While the current one offered a consensus-building opportunity to the House, the next Parliament provides the direct opposite. The majority in the next Parliament can safely ignore the other side without any effect.

But it is our considered view that while the entrenched partisanship provides a fertile ground for the majority to rubber-stamp government Bills and trample the ‘insignificant’ minority, the collective good of the country should incentivise the majority side to do justice to their calling.

In fact, the overwhelming endorsement of the NDC in the parliamentary election is a challenge by the electorate to reform the partisanship division in the House that could ruin the development of the nation.

Instead, it is a call to reform the acrimonious engagements, embrace the views of the opposite side, and build a harmonious working relationship that promotes and befits Parliament as an institution.

The words of the incoming NDC majority side are, therefore, so reassuring that some of the low points of the current Parliament are expected to be banished in the next one.

This is a new beginning in the country’s political space that the next Parliament must champion.