Political scientist warns of potential impact as 17 NDC MPs lose seats in parliament

Political scientist at the University of Winneba (UEW), Dr Isaac Brako, has said that seventeen National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentarians losing their seats will influence parliamentary proceedings.

According to him, the NDC will be particularly affected as the MPs who lost their seats may want to pay back for their loss.

“There are people who, when going into races such as these and lose, forget that power belonged to the people [party members], and they invested some into you, and the same power can be given to anybody they so wish. So, if the outcome doesn’t go their way, it means the people want it so. Due to the pain of losing especially with a year and a half to leave office, the MP may not forgive the party because s/he feels the party have disappointed him/her,” he said.

Dr Brako added that the participation of these parliamentarians in parliamentary proceedings will dwindle to punish their constituency and the party for their loss.

“With regards to this, participation in parliamentary activities will go down when it comes to these people. Case in point, if someone is nominated to be MCE and he loses, then he begins to pay a looting bonus to people. To imply that if I don’t get to be in power, then I will frustrate the activities of the party. And so very soon, they will start absenting themselves from parliament, and at worst, there are no penalties to be meted out to them because they have nothing to lose, and so if you don’t discipline such people on time, they commit to the things will dwindle,” he continued.

Also, Dr Brako thinks that when the MPs do not play their role again because they’ve lost the primaries, the majority could have their way in passing government policies.

“It can be noticed that the majority in parliament are slightly more than the minority. So, if there comes absenteeism on the part of the minority, all government policies will sail through. Also, the enthusiasm with which they used to work will not be there,” he added.

Dr Brako was speaking on Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV, and monitored by GhanaWeb.

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