The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, has warned Members of Parliament (MPs) that they risk incurring his wrath, henceforth, should any of them flout the rules of engagement of the House.
Indisciplined members, he noted, will no longer be tolerated, stressing that grave consequences await any member who unnecessarily interrupts proceedings of the House or misconducts himself while sitting is ongoing.
“Conducting ourselves in an ethical and principled manner should be our creed. We must identify out values as individuals and as a collective and live by them. We are aware of how events of the dawn of January 7, 2021, have left a sour taste in the mouths of most observers of parliamentary process. We are also conscious of the fact that misunderstanding of parliamentary processes has at times led to suspicion of impropriety on the part of some Members of Parliament. It will require a sustained hard work to erase these misconceptions I am talking about a conscious effort at remodeling the profile of the Ghanaian MP, through what we are seen to be doing, the transparency and integrity that govern what we do and the outcomes and impact we achieve. We need to work together on this”, he noted.
Rt. Hon. Bagbin made this observation on Wednesday, July 21, 2021, in a formal Communication to the House.
Commenting further, the Speaker reminded Members about the Code of Conduct for Members which enjoins them to “rebuild public confidence in our political system in a period when citizens of this country and elsewhere are losing faith in politics and politicians”, stressing that “it is our duty to restore their trust through our conduct in the performance of our duties as politicians and public office holders”.
“We need to do more in this regard”, he underscored.
He urged all Members to subscribe to their organizational vision of making Ghana’s Parliament a model in Africa, and one of the best Parliaments in the world.
“This we cannot achieve if we continue with the “business as usual” approach to our work. We need a step change, and this will come with us taking ourselves a little bit more serious. Ours is a strong institution with a strong culture. What we need are a few changes here and there and we will be on a path towards achieving our vision”, he noted.
He added, “we need to give the citizenry enough reasons to keep addressing us as Honourable Members of Parliament. As such, we owe it a duty to our compatriots and to ourselves to handle this house with the decency it deserves. We cannot afford to lower the standards of Parliament and lead this country into an attitudinal decay”.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com
