Who wouldn’t want to be an MP?
“Our MPs are self-serving and greedy” ....“They are corrupt” and “insensitive to our plight as a people” ....“They are a drain on the national kitty” ... .Their work is largely driven by party political bias and not by the national interest.”
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In a recent content analysis of some selected media platforms, including social media spanning the last decade or so, this appears to be the collective face of our “dis-Honourable” men and women who volunteer to serve mother Ghana in the august House of Parliament.
Jittery and sweaty government
As bad as it may seem, our Parliament nonetheless appears to wield some awesome powers. To find out the truth, you only need to watch jittery and sweaty government appointees and other important personalities during ministerial vetting, or such other public appearances in Parliament! They easily mix up their English grammar and slowly wither under sharp scrutiny by our MPs. And when you read a headline such as “Inspector General of Police to be hauled before the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament” you know that your almighty IGP, Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, is in deep trouble in the matter of slack security in our prison systems. Indeed, as one government nominee recently remarked with noticeable relief after an appearance in the House, “Herh, Parliament, was no joke ooo!”
For better or for worse, Parliament and issues relating to Parliament can stir up a great deal of passion in Ghanaians. It appears that regardless of their seemingly unattractive collective face, the crucial role played by our Legislators still has considerable value.
Dear reader, you may see this as a contradiction. It is not a contradiction. The truth is that Ghanaians have a love-hate relationship with most things that impact our lives. We condemn cheap Chinese goods, but we (including our Honourable MPs!) patronise them with gusto all the same. We chant “Buy made-in-Ghana goods, but our taste for foreign goods and services is legendary. We hate as much as we love our men and women of God; yet our Churches are bursting at the seams every Sunday! And as a backup insurance we also keep to our traditional belief systems … just as when modern orthodox healing methods fail us, we resort to traditional herbal methods! Our duality! It’s a beautiful world we live in, in Ghana.
Rush to Parliament
Does it therefore surprise you that some very celebrated professionals from various fields of endeavour (including prominent journalists) are queuing up to be elected at their party primaries in anticipation of entering the august House via the 2016 elections? It would seem that contrary to its critics opinion, the Legislative Arm of Government has become the desired destination of many Ghanaians; young and old, male and female! It is a known fact that teachers (20.36 per cent) and lawyers (13.46) are the predominant professions in the Ghanaian lawmaking body. The rest are medical doctors, industrialists, media practitioners and consultants, agricultural economists, bankers, charted accountants, development consultants etc.
The Communication and Corporate Affairs Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Harrison Belley, is reported to have observed during a 2012 public lecture that laws passed by Ghana’s Parliament were among the best laws in Africa, contrary to public perception that Ghanaian parliamentarians do nothing productive in Parliament. According to him, Parliamentarians in Ghana averagely pass a total of 84 laws in a year, which, he said was a demonstration of how hardworking the MPs were. But as we know in this country, passing laws is only part of the solution; and our Parliamentarians are rated rather very highly in this regard. What a paradise Ghana would have been if our law enforcement agencies were equally up and doing.
In addition to their lawmaking and executive oversight functions, MPs indeed are the true representatives of the people in the governance equation of our country, Ghana. But MPs are human. They are not gods or goddesses. They are not all-knowing and all-seeing and like all of us mortals, are sometimes fallible.
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Together we build
On the basic premise that together we build, divided we fall, Ghanaians have a need to shed the politics of form and engage more in the politics of substance. The old politics of scandalising your political opponent for sheer sport takes away from our focus in building our nation. Critical commentary is welcome, but overly negative and critical commentary has the potential to blur the full potential of MPs and the work they do. Not all members may be seen debating on the floor or in front of television cameras, but this does not simply equate to non-performance. There must be more education on Parliament and our MPs so that we can appreciate their work more while we demand accountability in a better informed manner.
Today, with the likes of some relatively young and well-known broadcast journalists, marketing professionals and celebrated legal practitioners all declaring their intentions to contest parliamentary primaries throughout the country, the business of the august House is certainly set to grow from grace to grace.
And Ghanaians must play their part not as the proverbial crab, in pulling down their neighbour, but in ensuring that Parliament stands as a true bastion of our unique brand of democratic governance.
Honesty and candour is called for here - Who wouldn’t want to be an MP?