DISGRACEFUL LEGISLATORS?

Article By: Austin Brako-Powers (University of Ghana, Legon) +233 242 62 81 64

The whole country was astounded and had its patience stretched to its wit end on Tuesday, 1 March 2011, when the nation’s legislators jumped into the fray of mediocrity by spending over thirty (30) minutes discussing the failure of the Minority Leader Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu to walk the President out of Parliament.

This was done at the expense of the passage of the Petroleum Management bill which is most significant to our budding country.

Ghana is becoming notorious in the continent for its “monkey dressed” Parliament which has no independent mind of its own. Our Parliamentarians are almost always at the mercy of the Executive arms of government and others.

Today the Members of Parliament (MP) want a laptop worth GHC2000 and tomorrow they are calling for increase in their pay to the tune of GHC 7000.

What nonsense is this?

Everything Parliamentarian is good and everything the poor is bad and gets delayed. What actually is wrong with our Parliamentarians? How were they created?

On Sunday 6 March, 2011 our country will hit fifty-four (54) years yet we have nothing to show up for just a horrible work by our “trusted” institutions.

Fact is, institutions have crashed in the country. Talk of Christian Council and you are sure of referring to Rev. Ministers who are in positions of trust to serve their interest and appointing authorities.

What our national leaders fail to realize is that, the world is no longer waiting for us and we have aged yet our doings are very childish.

Yesterday an occupant of a most respected office in the country walked arrogantly on the President of the Republic because the President did not address the Chief Justice and the Fmr. President John Agyekum Kuffour. Who knows what tomorrow holds for our country.

Personally I had a huge respect for Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu the Minority Leader of the nation’s Parliament but because of what he did and his growing pettiness in the House the dam of respect reserved for him has outburst and he must be ashamed of his behavior.

Yet, however grievous his crime may have cost our country it must not have taken a center space at the Tuesday, 1 March 2011 Parliamentary sitting.

I liken our today’s Parliamentarians to spectators at the Accra Sports Stadium in to witness a fierce battle between Original Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko. After the match is over they go back to where they came from and do nothing just laughing over their luck. No foresight in place for their people. Just their interest nothing else.

To contribute effectively to this country, our Parliamentarians must first consider the option of capacity building which is most lacking in the lives of our legislators.

They must also consider the option of strategically positioning themselves into tapping the copious knowledge and skills sweeping over the world.

It is only by doing the above among other things that we are assured of a brighter future for our country and the continent – Africa.

This is my mind. You can commit suicide because I care less.


Augrako4gh@gmail.com

Wednesday, 2 March 2011.