Hung Parliament has not functioned as expected – Lecturer

A political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has posited that the current Parliament, which is a hung Parliament, has not functioned as expected as an oversight body on the Executive.

He described members of the eighth Parliament as “toothless” and lacked the competence to function as expected.

“The hung Parliament created as a result of the outcome of the 2020 general election, a lot was expected of them as an oversight body on the Executive and the Majority and Minority in Parliament do not appreciate the mandate given to them by their constituents,” Prof. Gyampo explained.

He said both sides of the House did not really appreciate the mandate that was given to them by their constituents and also did not mean business and were not to be taken seriously and had become toothless than the predecessor institution that had clear dominance.

Speaking in the wake of the failure of the House to push forth a motion of censure against Ken Ofori-Atta,the Minister of Finance, the lecturerlamented over the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) demonstrating lack of political will to the extent that none of them had the boldness to speak to the earlier position they expounded.

Prof. Gyampo bemoaned the Minority for failing to live up to their promise to reject nominees of the President when he was re-elected in the 2020 elections.

The motion, which was filed by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, and seconded by AlhajiMohammed-Mubarak Muntaka,  the Minority Chief Whip, was voted on Thursday however, the motion was lost as the votes failed to meet the mandatory two-thirds majority of membership of the House.

All National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs in the House at the time,136, voted for the motion but the Majority Caucus staged a walkout just before the secret balloting.