The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has lamented that the lawmakers appointed to head institutions are unable to discharge their legislative functions.
He revealed plans of reviewing various rules in Parliament to impede the Executive from appointing Members of Parliament (MPs) as heads of state institutions.
“Do not allow money and political patronage to take over your minds to enable you discharge your mandate to constituents which is an issue we intend to fight within the two and a half years so that by the time we get to 2025, it will be a different ball game,” Mr Bagbin hinted.
According to him, the governing party always had a lot of MPs brought through political patronage which was hampering legislative functions of the House and was hopeful the review of various parliamentary rules would not impede its functions.
Mr Bagbin lamented when he swore-in seven new executives of the Parliamentary Press Corps in Accra who were Simon Agianab, Dean; Stephen Odoi-Larbi, Vice-Dean; Kwaku Sakyi-Danso, Secretary; Francis Ekow Annan, Deputy Secretary; Yesmeen Abubakar Tetteh, Treasurer; Deborah Dzievenu, Deputy Treasurer and Ibrahim Alhassan, Organising Secretary.
Led by Mr Bagbin to take their Oath of Office he decried the situation where MPs were being made board chairmen and women, chief executive officers of some institutions and wondered how they could criticise the same issues they were involved in and announced plans to review the Standing Orders of Parliament to suit the current hung Parliament, which he admitted was posing challenge to proceedings.
He explained that because of the current new structure referred to as hung Parliament, the rules were now structured for majoritarian Parliament, which were not in existence but the House was trying to tweak the rules a bit to incorporate some rules that could help it manage such situation which had been difficult to manage in Parliament.
Mr Bagbin bemoaned the eighth Parliament, since its commencement in 2021, had witnessed chaotic scenes due to its hung nature as both the Majority and Minority had 137 members each, with one Independent Member of Parliament.
In his quest to leave a legacy after his tenure, the Speaker stated that review was needed to be carried out on the Standing Orders of the House to prevent such chaotic scenes and smooth decision making. -GNA