On Tuesday, February 3, 2026, Parliament resumed sitting. This is the second session of the 9th Parliament. As required, the House has advertised a long list of items on its business calendar for this meeting.
Reading through the agenda got me thinking about how much impact we will be making as legislators in the lives of citizens by the time we are done executing the business before us. I’ve been asking myself: how much impact will the outlined agenda of the House make in the lives of our people — the average Ghanaian?
The unemployed, yet still hopeful, young men and women of our country. Our traders and hustlers squashed aboard trotros and long-distance Benz 207s flying over pothole-ridden highways. Our business people and entrepreneurs huddling with accountants to make the January payroll and meet their odious tax obligations. Our cocoa farmers with their cargo of precious beans, waiting expectantly for promises made to be met.
The People’s Business is what keeps our constituents and citizens awake at night. And that ought to be our business too.
As Parliament has resumed, you can be sure there will be a lot of atmospherics. But will we do the kind of work that truly impacts our people’s lives?
Too often, Parliament reduces itself to a chamber of theatre. Debates are framed for clips. Interventions are judged more by the loudness of the contributor’s voice than by the substance delivered. Important national questions are crowded out by partisan exchanges that may entertain but rarely enlighten — producing heat, but not much light.
Yet outside the chamber, young Ghanaians are dealing with realities so harsh they have little appetite for parliamentary drama. Jobs are scarce. Food prices are high. Manufacturing is struggling. The cedi’s appreciation benefits some and hurts others. Cocoa farmers are waiting to be paid. Security concerns across West Africa are a source of serious discomfort. Our regional address impacts our country’s risk profile.
Unfortunately, the nation’s deliberative chamber spends less time on these key matters and more time on performative “Government Business.” We allow more time for routine matters and very little for the necessary policy and programme analysis and assessments on the key issues that will impact the lives of our people the most.
As we resume work in 2026, we must take ourselves — as The People’s Representatives — a lot more seriously than we have done in the past, or risk becoming irrelevant to the very people whose trust we have sworn to respect and uphold.
Out of the many items listed as business for this first meeting of the second session, about five issues are of personal interest and will engage my utmost attention. If pursued, I believe they will significantly impact the lives of my constituents and millions of other Ghanaians nationwide.
1. Inquiry into the 2025 WASSCE Failures
First is the motion for an inquiry into the high levels of failures in the 2025 WASSCE, which has already condemned thousands of young Ghanaians to an uncertain future but has been shoved to the back burner.
Over 50 percent of candidates failed Core Mathematics, alongside generally poor performance across core subjects. The initial public shock was quickly reduced to partisan ping-pong, while the Executive announced it would conduct an internal review.
In December 2025, Hon. Patrick Boamah and I filed a motion requesting the Speaker to initiate a Parliamentary Inquiry so that this House of oversight could conduct a dispassionate deep dive into the causes and make recommendations to address them.
The future of the unprecedented number of young people who failed cannot be ignored simply because it is no longer newsworthy. It is worthy of pursuit because it is The People’s Business.
2. Inquiry into Gold Trading Losses
Second is the inquiry into the gold trading losses recorded in 2025. Ghana cannot normalise large public financial losses without properly explaining them to avoid repetition.
It is obvious that the Government initially panicked and sought to cover up with claims that there were no losses or that they should be classified as “economic costs.” No one was hoodwinked by the obfuscation.
Now that the temperature has come down, we need to do the sensible thing: understand what caused the losses and how to prevent recurrence. That is what any serious democracy does. Transparency is not about scapegoating; it is about restoring discipline and trust in the management of public resources.
Sound public finance is not an abstract ideal. It is a necessity that saves money to do The People’s Business.
3. Rising Cost of Manufacturing
Third is an inquiry into the rising cost of manufacturing in Ghana. We speak often about industrialisation, but manufacturers are battling high energy costs, logistics inefficiencies, financing constraints, and regulatory burdens.
Between January 2025 and now, electricity bills alone have gone up by 26 percent, making nonsense of claims that industrialisation is set to boom and create jobs.
More importantly, it puts our markets at risk because we are increasingly becoming dependent on imports from countries where the cost of production is better managed.
Parliament ought to be interested in understanding, in a nonpartisan and dispassionate manner, why this is happening and, even more importantly, what solutions we can agree on — not slogans.
4. The “No Plan, No Cash” Bill
Fourth, I am following up on my Private Member’s Amendment Bill to the Public Financial Management framework — the “No Plan, No Cash” Bill.
This seeks to make it illegal for the Treasury to fund any programme that is not in the National Development Plan. Simple.
If adopted, this will save billions of public money spent on pet projects for which we have not agreed. Indeed, I believe if we had such a law as a guardrail for the last NPP administration, it would have been beneficial for all. Future governments should have this benefit.
5. Scrutiny of Urgent Bills and Policy Documents
Finally, we must ensure deeper scrutiny of the bills and programmes of government.
It has now become the norm of the NDC government to bring all bills under a certificate of urgency. The rules provide for that, yes — but they are meant to be used sparingly. Having become the norm, there is little room for meaningful contribution to legislation.
Bills are brought by 2 p.m. and passed by midnight. Civil society organisations, the media, and stakeholders have little opportunity to scrutinise and offer inputs.
Additionally, we must continue advocacy for government to furnish Parliament with its programme and policy documents so we can exercise proper oversight. Out of 16 programme documents we have requested, only one — the 24-hour economy policy — has been laid before the House.
In any serious democracy, MPs are not encouraged to go fishing for government policy documents. The Executive prioritises informing the House so oversight can be effective.
Some have tried to frame these efforts as revisiting past policy failures. That misses the point. Democracies grow stronger by learning from experience, not burying it.
Young Ghanaians and young West Africans are watching us closely. They care about jobs, food prices, security, and opportunity in an increasingly uncertain world.
The Parliament of Ghana must rise to that expectation. I hear more jeers than cheers from our young people when we indulge in drama unbefitting even of the schoolyard.
If every inquiry is dismissed because of who proposed it, accountability suffers. If every idea is judged by party origin, progress slows. And if Parliament loses its place as a forum for serious national discourse and problem-solving, public trust will continue to erode.
This session is an opportunity to do better.
We can disagree without being dismissive or disagreeable. We can agree on more than our personal emoluments. Building Ghana requires a continuous stream of good ideas, not interminable arguments over who deserves credit.
Inquiries into education outcomes, public financial discipline, food sovereignty, industrial competitiveness, and economic transparency are critical. Our constituents deserve it. These are among the key reasons they chose us.
Let us focus.
The People’s Business is serious business.
We were not elected to act in a series for Netflix.
We were elected to do The People’s Business.
Let’s do more of that.
The writer is Member of Parliament for Ofoase/Ayirebi.
By Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
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