Ministers continuous snub weakening Parliament – Muntaka

Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak has slammed Ministers of State who are members of Parliament for joining the bandwagon to disrespect Parliament.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, Mubarak who is the MP for Asawase said the continuous snubbing of Parliament by MPs who are Ministers weakens the legislature greatly.

“Mr Speaker, it is sad. It is very…very sad that this is happening,” he decried following the failure of the Fisheries and Acqua Culture Minister Elizabeth Afoley Quaye to show up in parliament to answer questions from MPs.

“Mr Speaker I really, wish you could send the right signal to our colleagues especially those Ministers who are members of Parliament that they should be the last to be doing this to this house because they are weakening this house further,” he added.

Acting on the request of the Minority Chief Whip, the Speaker Prof. Mike Oquaye cautioned Ministers of State against showing disregard for the work of parliament. Speaker’s caution follows the failure of Fisheries and Aqua Culture Minister Elizabeth

Prof Oquaye also directed the leadership of parliament to communicate to the ministers to attach a high level of seriousness to the work of parliament.

Manipulation of register

The concerns of the Minority Chief Whip come in the wake of claims by MP for Ningo Prampram Sam George that some members of the House do not come to the chamber but manage to get their names on the attendance sheet of the house.

“Mr Speaker this is an honourable house of parliament, can we all be truthful to ourselves and God. That if we take today’s vote and proceedings, the names marked present were present in this chamber or even at committee?

“There are some names that we can mention here that appear present every day; we have never seen them here, even state of the nation address they don’t even attend yet the names appear.

“So is it that there is a way to get your name marked present even when you are not present? Maybe because I’m a first time member I have not been initiated yet. We need to look at this carefully and find a true way of marking members present whether they are in the chamber or committee level,” he said on the floor of the House on June 13.

Meanwhile, a new survey has suggested about 49.5% of Ghanaians will vote out their MPs over poor performance if elections were held today.

The Survey conducted by the Political Science department at the University of Ghana had 42.6% of the respondents ready to retain their lawmakers with 7.9% of the respondents still undecided.

Also, a majority of the respondents representing 46.7% do not want their incumbent MPs to contest in 2020 general elections while 42.4% want their MPs to contest with 10.9% still undecided on whether their MPs should contest or not.