The Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye, has promised to make parliament ‘house of accountability’ as long as he superintends over its affairs.
He said the Seventh Parliament which he is presiding over, will look into any matter which hinges on the public purse for proper accountability.
The speaker, who was addressing the media at the premises of parliament on Monday, said accountability is very important means of protecting the public purse.
“Nobody can stop the people’s representatives from enquiring into any matter that affects the people of this country,” he said, stressing that from sports, economy, sanitation to bad laws, legislators have the right to enquire into them.
He posited that under his stewardship, he would greatly encourage Members of Parliament (MPs) who would initiate individual bills that would not necessarily be a burden on the national purse but would be of great benefit to the people parliament is representing.
Prof Oquaye said for instance, that with regards to galamsey (illegal mining), parliament should not sit down for the executive to come out with a bill before it could do something about it.
According to the speaker, a member’s bill could be introduced to help address that problem.
He also mentioned the abuse of children or disrespect for women’s rights in the country which he saw as issues that parliament could handle without waiting for the executive to initiate actions on.
He said the current parliament will be very proactive and responsive to the needs of the people.
According to him, leadership of parliament would be having constant public forums in the regions to interact with the people to find out their immediate needs and have feedback on the work of parliament.
He noted that “parliament is for the people and we are going to work for the people.”
He said since parliament wants to be very independent, the society must empower it through capacity building so that it can serve the people.
“We will open our doors to the public for more suggestions and criticisms since we are there for them,” the speaker assured.
Prof Mike Oquaye expressed parliament’s profound gratitude to institutions like Star-Ghana and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) for supporting the work of the law makers, especially at the committee levels, and called for more support for the various committees to be much more effective.
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said that the minority in the Seventh Parliament would work with leadership to fight against corruption and ensure value for money in all government’s undertakings.
Deputy Majority Leader Adwoa Safo said there was the need for the House to get a new chamber to help facilitate its work.
The outgoing dean of the parliamentary press corps, Edwin Arthur, called on the leadership of the legislature to provide an office with internet facilities so that journalists can work effectively.
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