Ghanaians are unhappy with Parliament\u2019s inability to play its effective role of checking the Executive arm of government.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”TNYSmDUoxTGefhQVj4tp2k3onoIYsW5O”]This was captured in a report of a research carried out by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE).<\/p>\n
Oversight role<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cFor executive oversight, 6.3% of respondents said it is excellent, 26% rated it as very good, 44.8% as average. More than 20% (22.9%) rated Executive Oversight as below average,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n The research, which was carried out to test the participation of the citizenry in the country\u2019s democratic process in 2014, also revealed that more Ghanaians expect the Legislature to be effective in its work.<\/p>\n Launching the findings of the research on Thursday, Director of Research at the NCCE, Gertrude Zakariah Ali said Parliament as an institution must do more to strengthen the country\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n Law making role<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWith respect to Parliament\u2019s law making role, 8.6% rated it as excellent, 32.7% as very god, 46% as average, and 12.7% as below.\u201d<\/p>\n Accountability<\/strong><\/p>\n The report further stated that with respect to ensuring accountability of Public Officials, 31.8% of respondents were very satisfied with Parliaments work, 35.7% were just satisfied, 20.8% were fairly satisfied, and 11.8% were not satisfied.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Majority Leader Alban Bagbin defended Parliaments action saying some provisions in the 1992 constitution restrain the legislature from carrying out its duties effectively.<\/p>\n Limited resources<\/strong><\/p>\n He said\u00a0“to try to oversee, you need the resources to be able to oversee. Even though we have by Article 103, the power\u00a0 to establish standing committees and other committees, you will need to be able to provide the\u00a0resource to those committees to inquire, to probe, to investigate the activities of the executive. So if it is the executive that is supposed to release the resources to you to investigate them then I\u2019m sure that those resources will not \u00a0be forthcoming.”<\/p>\n “So if the committees don\u2019t have the resources to move out to do the investigation then they will definitely be seen as ineffective.”<\/p>\n He further stated that “if the majority of the ministers are members of parliament and these same members of parliament who are ministers of state, and are by provisions of \u00a0the constitution are permitted to debate and vote in the house, then you will understand whether the members of parliament, whether majority or minority will always have that free air or conducive environment to do that inquiry. So yes its true that the 25% is good score mark for the performance of Parliament so far as the investigative and oversight responsibility is concerned.”<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n