With as many as six Chairmen of various committees in Parliament not returning to the House in 2025, the Executive Director of the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Dr. Rasheed Draman, has asked that experienced lawmakers who are exiting the House should bequeath some legacy reports to guide the younger generation.
He has charged the political parties to cause some of these leaders to codify their years of experience in legislation, so that their exit from the House will not create so much vacuum in Parliament.
His comments come on the back of some Members of Parliament in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who are not seeking reelection into the 9th Parliament, and failed to file nominations after the party closed the process Tuesday, December 26, 2023.
“I think we have gotten to a time where we should have some legacy reports prepared by these experienced individuals so that when they exit the scene, the experience and the insight gained over the years of being in the House is not lost on us,” he has proposed.
Speaking on Ghana Tonight Tuesday, December 26, 2023, with Alfred Ocansey, the ACEPA boss said “there will be a very huge gap because if you research into, for instance, the law-making process in Parliament, there are very few MPs who have been going through the intricacies and the very nitty-gritties” to get the laws passed.
Despite the Ashanti region being the main support base of the ruling NPP, some incumbent MPs are not seeking re-election despite their chances of retaining the seat being high, aside from their garnered experiences to help the House in its functions.
Forty-three out of the 47 seats are held by the governing NPP.
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who doubles as the MP for Bekwai, Joseph Osei-Wusu, Majority Leader and MP for Suame, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, and legislators for the Oforikrom, Ahafo Ano South East and Kwabre East constituencies, did not file their nominations to participate in the primaries.
Albeit the challenge in this part of the word with regards to writing, Dr. Draman has suggested that it would be better some of such experienced lawmakers leave a legacy by putting their experiences on paper as a guide.
“Unfortunately, in the developing countries, we don’t write a lot. Perhaps this is the time where if the parties are minded, we should get some of these MPs to prepare some legacy reports, not only covering this 8th Parliament which will be very interesting to read, most importantly, their time in the House,” citing the Suame MP, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu for instance, who has spent almost three decades in the House.
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