MPs should also be agents for development, not only lawmakers - Okudzeto Ablakwa

• GhanaWeb TV's newest program, The Lowdown, featured North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa on its first edition

• According to the MP, their work should not only focus on lawmaking

• He has urged his colleagues to also serve as agents of development for their people

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has said that while the primary job of parliamentarians is making of laws, they must equally be focused on developments.

He said the constitutional mandate given to them to see to the smooth processes that lead to making of laws are on one side while being agents of development should be on the other.

Making his appearance on GhanaWeb TV's newest current affairs talk program, The Lowdown, as its first guest, the lawmaker shared a number of perspectives on issues of accountability, leadership and activism in Ghana.

He explained the work of Parliament, stressing how those roles tie into developments in the communities, for their people.

“I think that if you want to be an effective member of Parliament, you have to be versatile. Particularly for a developing country like ours, you cannot say you’ll be a Member of Parliament who focuses only on lawmaking. So, you can have a part of you that develops the ability to be an agent for development: how to lobby for projects, how to pursue initiatives which will ease the burdens that your constituents have. And so, I make sure I roll out a good number of initiatives and interventions that will satisfy that yearning demand," he said.

The Lowdown is a weekly current affairs and talk program that explores issues of interest from the angles of the right persons in leadership. It is hosted by Ismail Akwei.