Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, the Speaker of Parliament, on Monday said, with the proliferation of media houses and radio stations public accountability has become a routine activity because public officials are called at short notices to give accounts of their stewardship.
He said this method of radio stations calling on officers to account for their activities was sometimes prone to abuses and excesses by the media. Speaking at a day's training workshop for the Parliamentary Press Corps in Accra the Speaker said: "Almost every morning, public officials are called to answer questions on phone-in-programmes.
''This system also throws the searchlight on the activities of public officials. It is however, notoriously liable to excesses and abuse and must be undertaken and exercised with restraints and circumspection."
The workshop, sponsored by the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) was under the theme: "The Opportunities and Challenges in Promoting Good Governance."
Mr Ala Adjetey said good governance included such essential elements as political accountability, respect for rule of law and judicial independence. He said the provision of institutions such as the National Commission On Civil Education, is not enough to promote good governance.
The Speaker said the Legislature, as an elective and representative body should be the forum where competing interests could be openly discussed and negotiated and important national decisions made about the use of public resources.
"There is also the need for the Executive to be responsive and transparent in its activities so as to secure a maximum level of public confidence and trust."
"No investor would like to invest in an unstable political environment where the safety or security of one's investment cannot be safeguarded. The promotion of good governance presupposes the operation of a legal and regulatory framework that is clear, transparent, binding, enforceable and applied uniformly."
Mr Ala Adjetey cautioned the media about some reports about the Speaker saying the Speaker rarely has the opportunity to defend himself on falsehood traded by a section of the media unlike other public officers who can easily call for a press conference to state their case.
He made particular reference to reports that 600 million cedis has been spent in renovating his official residence, which he said, was not true since the house in question was not his personal property and it has even been taken away from him.
The Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Felix Owusu-Adjapong, urged journalists covering Parliament to be conversant with the Standing Orders of the House, the Parliamentary Service Act and the various bills brought before the House in order to feed the public with accurate information.
Mr Kofi Attor, NDC-Ho Central, who stood in for the Minority Leader, urged editors to allocate more space to Parliamentary proceedings to take Parliament closer to the people.
Mr. Edwin Arthur, the Dean of the Parliamentary Press Corps, said journalists had a lot to offer Parliament to entrench democracy.
Mr. Jones Kugblenu, the Director of Public Affairs of the Parliamentary Service, said journalism plays a meaningful part in democracy since it is the duty of the Parliamentary corresponds to articulate the concerns of legislators to the constituents who would then be in a better position to contribute towards good governance.
Mr. Steve Manteaw, Communications Co-ordinator of ISODEC, said the workshop constituted an opportunity to equip the citizenry to participate in governance since journalists are being trained to facilitate "our participation in the political and social processes of our society."
