Mr Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, Deputy Majority Chief Whip on Saturday urged Parliament to brace up for its onerous duty of ensuring that "people have value for every cedi spent by government".
He said previous Parliaments in the country had not been stringent enough because members lacked the capacity to scrutinise financial appropriation bills put before it.
Mr Bonsu was speaking at a pre-budget seminar for chairpersons and ranking members as well as some parliamentary staff at Ho. The one-day seminar, which was organised by Parliament and Friedrich Ebert Stiffung (FES) was attended by 65 participants.
Mr Bonsu, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tafo-Suame, therefore, urged participants to make use of the opportunity - in this era of zero tolerance of corruption and an exercise to rid the public pay roll of ghost names - to enhance their capacity to enable parliament attain its goal of keeping the executive on its toes.
Mr Bonsu said a diligent Parliament could check malfeasance while another, through negligence would encourage it. Mr Cletus Avoka, MP for Bawku-West said the seminar was a serious one to facilitate and enhance the process of approval of budgets and not a "holiday or fun trip".
Mr Freddi Blay, MP for Elembelle and first Deputy Speaker observed that the "nitty-gritty" of Parliament's work was at the committee level and not on the floor where members often played to the gallery.
He said Parliament would be working in the interest of the people if it used its powers over the "purse" adequately by overseeing the proper use of funds. Mr Joerg Bergstermann, FES resident director said his organisation's support for the legislative body of the fourth republic since its inception in 1992 had become the cornerstone of the foundation's activities in the country.
Mr Bergstermann pledged that FES would continue to play a part in the efforts to strengthen the role and capacity of the Parliament of Ghana. "If and when we are so requested, we shall do whatever is within our limited means to support you in the key areas", he said.
