Live up to your oversight responsibility - Nana Nketsia urges Parliament

The Paramount Chief of the Essikado Traditional Area in the Western Region, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, has urged Parliament to live  up to its oversight responsibility in order to help stamp out corruption in the country.

Parliament’s oversight function which is one of the cornerstones of democracy is to hold the executive accountable for its actions and to ensure that it implements policies in accordance with the laws and budget passed by Parliament.

Nana Nketsia who made the observation at the 30th anniversary forum of Parliament held in Takoradi last Tuesday, said Parliament was the most important arm of government and must be seen to be championing the cause of the Ghanaian population.

He said Ghana, the Black Star of Africa, must do everything necessary through Parliament since "rulership is not in the Jubilee House but in Parliament.”

Oversight responsibility

"We are in serious debt as a country because Parliament has failed us.

Parliament continues to approve loans despite knowing the severe consequences these loans have on the country ", he said.

Nana Nketsia was of the view that if Parliament had exercised its oversight responsibilities prudently the country would not have been in the present predicament.

He wondered why Members of Parliament (MPs) sat in Parliament along party lines, and suggested that the system of arrangement must be given a second look.

 In attendance were the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin; MPs, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives, chiefs, civil society organisations and members of the general public.

Virtues

He extolled the virtues of the Speaker of Parliament and added that it was as a result of those  virtues that MPs from both sides of the political divide elected him to lead the House.

He commended the Speaker for his sterling qualities which had gone a long way in promoting democracy in the country.

The paramount chief said the spirit of the Constitution must be maintained since it was the best under the political democratic system.

Development

Nana Nketsia called for the equitable development of the Western Region as it had contributed immensely to the growth of Ghana.

He spoke of the under-development of the region, particularly in the road and railway sectors and urged the government to take steps to remedy the situation.

The Western Regional Minister and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Takoradi, Kwabena Okyere Darko -Mensah, thanked Parliament for the forum and said it would go a long way to enable the electorate to have much more insight into the work of the House.