Dr. Rasheed Draman, Executive Director of the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), has advised subsequent governments not to pile up businesses in Parliament till the last days.
He says those are the reasons Ghana has been plunged into several judgement debts. Dr. Draman says when bills are sent to Parliament in such last minutes, legislators are not able to undertake proper scrutiny of the documents.
Commenting on the indefinite adjournment of the House, he said the government’s lamentation over having important business to consider before the end of the 8th Parliament leaves a lot of questions having considered the four-year duration they had to conduct business.
He said on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, October 26, 2024, that Parliamentarians are not in their best to make informed decisions for the State when they are forced to stay in the House over midnight which leads to decisions that leave the nation in debts.
He advocated for government business to be expedited in subsequent Parliaments to avoid the situation where things are pilled up at the later days.
“When you people keep saying we have very important business to do before this Parliament ends, this Parliament had four years and it speaks to the practice that we’ve seen over the years, both NPP and NDC, during the last days before Parliament goes on recess, sometimes they sit up to midnight.
“And this has been the practice so instead of front-loading most of these business so they can be done, we wait till the last minute when Hon. Jinapor (referring to John Jinapor, Yapei Kusawgu MP who was present at the programme) is tired, around midnight, what thinking can he think in terms of scrutinising anything? And then it gets our country into trouble, judgement debts and so on because proper scrutiny is not done.
“So, I think the parties have to learn some lessons from this. If there is business, let’s give our members of Parliament enough time,” he explained.
The way the Constitution is designed makes the work of Parliament difficult – Draman
