News:
January 29, 2025
In the 7th and 8th Parliament of the fourth Republican constitution, as much as ninety-four (94) attrition rate has hit the Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Member of Parliament for Mpraeso has lamented.
According to him money is playing a dominant role and very quiet alarming, despite the fact that he believes in politics there are three things, good message, strong machinery and money.
But it looks like money has taken over and it has become seventy percent, he said in an interview.
He believes the system should be blamed considering the fact that it is the MPs (representing political parties) who go to the people every four years to solicit their votes and in doing so end up promising so much even though MPs are not development agents.
However, the wining political party ends up appointing MMDCEs clothed with the duty of overseeing the development of the constituencies, yet the people always blame MPs if their needs are not met. So if you have a government that is not too focused on the things the MP promised then it weakens the MP’s chances at the poll.
“In one of my arguments when I made a statement on this on the floor, I said we need to revive the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives so that the constituents can hold them responsible if they do not see development in the constituencies.”
We should also change ways of selecting parliamentary candidates, because the delegate system is quite expensive, he added.
He said he proposed the PASO system in Argentina in which on a particular day all parties select their candidates. This time it is not some delegates but members of the party or even registered voters who lean towards a particular political party will get the opportunity to vote.
“If you have large numbers it is difficult for people to influence them with money; it now comes down to your vision, your track record and how consistent you are touching base with your constituents and how we are able to make MPs accessible to their constituents.
He indicated that Assemblies have offices where they operate, but the MP does not have an office in the constituency. “We need to revive this whole argument of finding an office for the MP in the constituency. Parliament is not ready to construct but can make some funds available to MPs to go in there and look for office spaces with some small staffs to ensure the presence of MPs in the constituency so that people can reach out to them then they can engage in clinics, workshops, and meetings.”
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com