The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, says chiefs must be allowed to participate in active party politics in the country.
He has therefore, proposed a relook into constitutional provisions that barred chiefs from participating in active politics, adding that “Ghana needs to re-orient its democratic architecture and ensure that the wisdom and expertise of chiefs can be tapped to enhance representative governance in the country.”
Mr Bagbin also stressed the urgent need to tackle the seemly exclusion of the citizenry from harnessing dividends of Ghana’s democratic experience.
He made the proposal at a public forum in Takoradi yesterday as part of activities to mark 30 years of parliamentary democracy.
The forum was on the theme “30 years of parliamentary democracy under the 4th Republic: The journey thus far.”
He added that “We need to listen, think together, and we’ll be taking stock on what we did wrong with our leaders, that chiefs should not be in active politics and that’s not helping us. They used to govern; today we have imposed other chiefs on our chiefs, so we have District Chief Executives.”
Historically, Mr Bagbin noted that the African, by tradition, embraced a democratic culture which promoted competition and that the concept of Parliament was instituted in kingdoms, empires, long before the coming of the whites (Europeans).
He said the kingdom systems ensured movement of people in different directions and bonding together with their own traditions and a sense of leadership based on the three pillars of government, which the Fante Confederacy copied.
“We Africans started with so many of the things and they came and stole from us, polished, rebranded and brought them back to us as if there were new things that we are to learn from,” the speaker of Parliament said.
Mr Bagbin said God had blessed Ghana so much that there was no need for people to be afraid but, be patient while the mistakes were corrected.
He said the current ‘explosion’ of social and political upheavals blowing across the sub-Saharan corridors were an indication that the citizenry had lost touch with governance.
Mr Bagbin said after 30 years of democratic experiment, there was the urgent need for Parliament to get closer to the people, explain the challenges to them and as to how to correct the hurdles.
Nana Kobina Nketsia, paramount chief of Essikado Traditional Area, said he believes it was time Parliament showed serious interest in public affairs and debates within the public space and help find ways to deal with issues of economic justice the country faced, today.
On the Speaker’s entourage were Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah; Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah; MP, Wassa East, Isaac Adjei Mensah; Deputy Clerk of Parliament, Ebenezer Ahumah Djetoro; Director of Public Affairs, Kate Addo and Director Media Relations, David Damoah.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, ESSIKADO
