Politics

Majority Leader bemoans high attrition of experienced MPs

The Majority Leader and Minister-designate for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has bemoaned the high rate of attrition of experienced legislators from the House and called for measures to help retain them.

“Not until the political parties confront the reality, it will be difficult to stop the high attrition rate,” he said.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suame in the Ashanti Region, made this known to the Appointments Committee of Parliament during his vetting for the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio.

He attributed the loss of experienced Members of Parliament (MPs) to monetisation of politics in the country, which he described as “reality,” and advised political parties to confront the issue to stem the tide.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who held the position in the first term of President Nana Akufo-Addo-led administration and has been re-nominated, proposed discussion on what could be done to retain such MPs to maintain the quality of legislators in the House.

He admonished his colleagues not to “portray themselves as agents of growth and development at the grass roots but learn useful lessons from their conduct” and indicated that “chief executives of metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies were not hounded for growth and development projects”.

“When MPs go to solicit votes, the constituents ask them if they are aware of their challenges and the MPs Common Fund on which they fall for support and assistance of development projects in their communities is not enough,” Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu decried.

Justifying the existence of the Ministry, he explained that “I persuaded colleague MPs to support and assist government policies, programmes and social interventions brought to the House for approval.

“It is absolutely important to have Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and since 95 per cent of public business in Parliament is government business, you need the leader of government business in order to be able to persuade my colleagues on good policy that must be supported and assisted by Parliament.

“You need Minister of Parliamentary Affairs to be in Cabinet, where policy evolves to appreciate underpinnings of any policy.When he comes to Parliament to lead business of the House, he will then be able to get buy-in of his colleagues,” Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted.

He proposed that space should be created for heads of constitutional bodies to directly answer to the House and called for holistic approach to review the Constitution-GNA

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