Parliament has not lived up to expectation - J. H. Mensah

Accra (Greater Accra) 13 Jan. '99

The Minority Leader, Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, has said

parliament did not live up to the expectation of the people last year.

"Indeed, on a number of crucial issues that we have had to deal

with, I am forced to say that every friend of Ghana's democratisation and

economic development had cause to express serious concern".

Mr Mensah was presenting the minority's 1998 annual report on the

performance of parliament at a press conference in Accra last night.

The report covered political history, conduct of the Speaker of the House,

analysis of the government financial policies, accountability, divestiture of

State Owned Enterprises, technical resources of parliament, the relationship

between the president, government and opposition.

Mr Mensah said communication between parliament and the general public was not adequate saying media reports were in many cases one-sided.

He called for the involvement of the public in the parliamentary processes.

He also suggested that live coverage of parliamentary debates be

encouraged to give the public insight into issues.

The Minority leader accused the Majority Members of Parliament, Ministers and supporters of the National Democratic Congress of using their numerical strength and intimidation to torpedo sensitive issues raised on the floor of the House.

Mr Mensah mentioned in particular, the motion on bribery allegation levelled against the President and accused the Speaker of the House, Mr Justice Daniel Francis Annan, of ''usurping the powers of MPs'' by disallowing a debate on the issue.