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The Africa Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) wants the leadership of Parliament to quickly resolve the seeming rift between the Speaker and Minority in Parliament.

According to ACEPA, if this is not done immediately the impact on governance will be severe.

This follows the Minority’s disappointment over what they describe as unfair treatment meted out to them by the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye.

The Minority says the Speaker has consistently attempted to stifle them in the House and has been biased against them.

Speaking to Citi News, the Executive Director of ACEPA, Dr Rasheed Dramani said Ghanaians will bear the brunt of the division in Parliament if not resolved quickly.

“Indeed if this is not resolved quickly, the situation is going to get worse maybe when Parliament reconvenes next time because one of the things every Speaker of Parliament has to try and do right from the beginning is to try and inspire the confidence particularly of the Minority and the entire house but most importantly the Minority. Now that Parliament is on recess, we have to do some sober reflections and critically examine where I think they both fell short. We are not going to have very serious representation in Parliament. We are not going to have effective oversight because oversight is usually led by the Majority and so if you have the Majority not cooperating in the deliberations in Parliament, it means we do not have the people asking the right questions on behalf of all of us. In Parliament, on our democracy, this is going to be yet another dent. Already a lot of Ghanaians do not have confidence in this Parliament.”