A Dean of School of Graduate Studies at the university of Professional Studies, UPS, Dr Kwaku Mensah Mawuto has stated that if care was not taken, the 8th Parliament of Ghana could be the most corrupt parliament in the history of Ghana.
Backing his assertion in this regard, he argued that the corruption perception of Ghana’s parliament was deepened by accusations and counter-accusations by the members of parliament themselves in respect to the recent brouhaha that surrounded the election of current Speaker of Parliament, Right Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin.
This he said bore ample testimony to the fact that Ghana’s parliament needed a third institution to put it in check to prevent it from being corrupted.
“We need to know how best we have a third eye to watch parliament to really scrutinize their proceedings, and that would bring the sanity that we want from parliament.
Dr Kwaku Mensah Mawuto made this remark when he was contributing to a panel discussion concerning the election of the 8th speaker of parliament on TV3 New Day in Accra.
He recounted numerous allegations by the MPs themselves as well as people outside parliament.
“ So, you see these allegations did not come from myself and you. In this case for instance, you have a member of parliament, not an ordinary member, a whip of parliament, say some of these things to you. There is a serious issue.
“We shouldn’t even limit it out for their privileges committee to sit on. If possible let’s open it up for Hon Muntaka to clear the issue properly. We should open it up to a very objective and neutral probe to go deep into it, since we want to uproot corruption from our parliament.
“ Until then the corruption perception is very ripe and people continue to perceive that what we hear out there persists in there.
“We heard a number of institutions who have ever dealt with parliament, alleging that some bills they served, they have to pay out before their bills are worked on by the members of parliament.
“ And at any point in time, they would be invited and then as usual they have no evidence. And so, the one who pays bribes is also accused as guilty by law, and the eyes of the public. So, it is very difficult for them to accept that yes indeed they pay bribes. So in the end, you will not get any evidence.
He noted that if bribery allegations against parliament were true, it meant that those lobbyists would have to pay more.
“ In the sense that in the previous Parliamentary set up, we had a political party which was in majority. As a matter of fact, if truly indeed they could pay a section of the members in there, but this time they would have to compel the entire house which would now be an expensive for the lobbyists.
“ All that we are saying is that we want a good legislature where people go in there to witness a very good intellectual discourse that would guarantee good outcomes.
Dr Kwaku Mensah Mawuto, therefore, suggested there should be a critical conscious effort from the system to unravel the mystery behind those allegations, stressing that if the system continues to insist on demanding for evidence there would be none, and that would defeat the purpose of fighting corruption around parliament.
He, however, called on the media and other institutions to play a critical role in ensuring that the country enjoy the expected consensus from the parliament.
“ We need to know how best we have a third eye to watch parliament to really scrutinize their proceedings, and that would bring the sanity that we want from parliament.
On his part, a Political Marketing Analyst, Dr Bernard Tutu Boahen who was also on the show, bemoaned that disturbances that happened in Parliament was a beginning of worse things to happen in the house.
“ They said that people were bribing others to choose the speaker of parliament.
Are they endorsing bribery in this country ?
He also added his voice for an independent probe into those bribery allegations.
Dr Bernard Tutu Boahen wondered whether the equality of the law did not include members of parliament.
“ Somebody causes financial lost to his company and the person is jailed.
Somebody in a public institution causes financial lost to government and the person is jailed. Are we saying the parliamentarians can go about do anything and not be jailed?