News:
March 3, 2025
Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has commended first time Members of Parliament (MPs) in the ninth Parliament for their performance so have noting that the first orientation given them in Parliament has yielded good results.
According to him, the MPs, in the next four years would have to work together to defend and uphold Ghana’s democracy; and commended them for being regular at the constituencies.
The leader who gave the commendation at the opening of the second orientation for all Members of Parliament in the ninth parliament in Ho however noted that the MPs regular presence at their constituencies is also affecting their presence in the chamber.
“There is a lot of work ahead of us and we need to prepare ourselves for it; that is the essence of this exercise. For the returning members, I see we have suffered some casualties, many have gotten into Ministerial portfolios and that is going to take them away from us”.
Again, it is important to note that Ghana has become the envy of a lot of African countries and respected in the world at large because of our democracy, we have the capacity to engage in elections and in between elections our institution of parliament works hard to hold the executive accountable, he added.
The Majority Leader further noted in his address that, to ensure the country is properly run, after the elections, we ensured smooth transition, adding that parliament is the heart beat of democracy, thus “we have held our own in the last three decades”.
“We are liked in the continent, we should remain to hold the high standard; we have to build out skills to remain as a very credible parliament, we have to learn how to hold the executive accountable as MPs”.
Again, we should represent our constituencies and help to run our various institutions efficiently and the democracy we have; it has to deliver economic and social benefits to our people, that is what they expect and we have to get the tools and how to use them.
Thus the orientation exercise helps us gain the skills of how to debate, move motions, how to bring issues into the agenda of parliament, how to get Minister on the floor and how to engage with Minister.
He admonished MPs to build a cordial relationship with the media, stating that there are MPs who spend so much time in their constituencies and yet lost their elections at the end because the campaign against them was always about their inability to make contributions on the floor of the House. “You can do all the development works in your constituencies but if you do not spend time in the chamber, it would count against you in the next election”.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com