News:
January 27, 2025
As the debate on whether the Member of Parliament (MP) is a development agent or purely for formulating and passing laws ranges on, the Member of Parliament for Kintampo North, Joseph Kame Kumah believes MPs are means to development but not development agents.
According to him Ghanaian voters thinks Ghanaian MPs are development agents, “we are not running away from being development agents but rather we are means to development. We are conveyer belts through which development gets to our constituencies”, he said in an interview.
He said they as MPs lobby for development for their areas and they will continue to deliver on that aspect of their mandates.
On the high attrition rate in parliament, he used the opportunity to thank his constituents for bringing him back to Parliament for the second time; a journey which has not been easy in his case pointing out that he had five contenders.
He was however quick to point out that his former colleagues lost their primaries, but he was so fortunate, and none of his contenders were government appointees, they came on their own to contest. Those of our colleagues who could not make it for the first time when you interact with them the story are that some powerful hands within their own Government pumped in money to help them unseat them, or a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of government agencies properly planted somewhere used money to unseat him.
According to him, the Cletus Avoka, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Joseph Osei-Owusu and the likes who decided not to come back to parliament did so because of how others started dealing with them from behind.
So, if you research and see that things may not go well, it is better to step down for others to go.
I was fortunate to be a judiciary committee member of the previous Parliament who visited House of Commons and House of Representative to understudy them. “By their system, the Kyei and Joseph Osei-Owusus, they will not let them go. They will let them stay behind for others to understudy them; that is why they are reach in democracy, lawmaking. Their former Chief Justices are persons who they consult and let them be in Panels for institutional memory purposes”, he added.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com