Take advantage of 'abnormal' hung parliament - Dr. Darkwa to MPs

Dr Samuel Darkwa, the Director Governance and Administration at the Institute of Economic Affairs has said that the make-up of the eighth parliament presents the members a quintessential opportunity to purge the legislative arm of government of the rubber-stamp tag.

According to him, the hung parliament provides the MPs the best platform to fully exercise their oversight responsibilities on the executive.

Dr Darkwa said Parliament has been handed a window to create a new identity for itself and that next few years will prove if the house is committed to achieving same.

He maintained that the members must join forces at all times to defend the interest of the country and not just their individual interests.

Dr Darkwa said that instead of always combining forces to stake claim for their ex-gratia and other benefits, the members must work together to advance the interest of the common Ghanaian.

According to him, the eighth parliament is another milestone in Ghana’s democratic dispensation and it beholds on the MPs and the general populace to ensure that opportunity is not fluffed.

“When situations like these happen in other jurisdictions, they take advantage to build their institutions. At times we go there and borrow their institutions. This a critical juncture in our development and I think it is for us to take advantage of what is happening and use it to build what we need our democracy to be", he said at roundtable discussion by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on the Implications of Hung Parliament on Ghana’s Democracy.