The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has served notice that the House would not bow to the pressures of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the passage of legislations to satisfy its conditions for the agreement with government for the US$3 billion extended credit facility to Ghana.
The long arm of the IMF, the Speaker said, was all over the budget including the request for the Affirmative Action Bill to be passed under a certificate of urgency.
In his view, Ghana mostly runs a government dictated from outside because it was not financially independent to take its decisions.
“We are refusing to generate resources and depend on others to feed us so he who pays the piper calls the tune. As I have indicated, even in this budget, you can see the arm of the IMF in a lot of the provisions.
“A critical bill like the Affirmative Action Gender Equality Bill has come to parliament under a certificate of urgency. It won’t happen. We won’t pass it under a certificate of urgency,” the Speaker stressed.
He gave this notice in Accra yesterday at the Speaker’s Breakfast Forum on the theme “Thirty Years of Parliamentary Democracy under the Fourth Republic: Reflections on Citizens Engagement and the Way Forward”.
The forum which brought together Civil Society Organisations and independent constitutional bodies was part of activities to commemorate 30 years of uninterrupted parliamentary democracy in the Fourth Republic.
According to the Speaker, there were critical stakeholders which needed to be consulted on the Bill which would define gender and equality issues for the country in many years to come and must not be rushed.
“We will not be dictated to by the IMF. That one you can be sure. Not this Bill. This is a very critical bill that the IMF itself should know that we need the buy-in of stakeholders to be able to implement,” he said.
He said a resolution of the Inter Parliamentary Union to which Ghana was a signatory had projected that by 2040, every parliament should have a gender parity of 50:50; failure for same means the defaulting country would be demoted to a spectator status and Ghana won’t be left behind.
“The IMF should know that the IPU has fixed 2040 for all parliaments in the world to reach gender parity and we need to deliberately focus on this and legitimise same in our law. We cannot under a certificate of urgency go through this one and get it properly positioned.”
With a female population of 40 out of the 275 lawmakers in the current parliament, representing 14.5 per cent, Mr Bagbin said Ghana had a long way to go and “we won’t be passing laws under certificate of urgency (and be getting the flacks whilst those who impose them on parliament go unblemished). I think enough is enough. Your speaker will not give in to pressure.”
Chairperson of the STAR-Ghana Foundation, Parliament’s partner in the commemoration of the anniversary, Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, in her remarks, said the importance of Parliament to Ghana’s democracy experiment could not be underestimated because “it is the ultimate expression of our citizenship”.
Commending Mr Bagbin for his stellar leadership since becoming the Speaker in 2021, she observed that parliament has evolved in line with its constitutional imperatives and needed to be upheld.
“In spite of everything, we have a robust institution that gives us confidence for the way forward and my confidence has further been enhanced by the five pillars of engagement parliament seeks to employ in reaching out to the people,” she stated.
The pillars, information, education, communication, consultation and participation, she said, would bring Parliament closer to the citizenry.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
