Parliament is weak - Ursula Owusu laments

Member of parliament for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu Ekuful has expressed worry about parliament's inability to perform its oversight responsibility because it is weak.

According to her, most of the current MPs in parliament are not working and lack the appropriate training and quality to perform their role effectively.

"I am concerned that of all the three arms of govt, the legislature appears to be the weakest. And because of that there is growing public dissaffection with the performance in parliament vis-a-vis the judiciary and the executive. But it is not too much the fault of the legislator.

There are structural and institutional reasons why the legislature is weak and attitudinal reasons as well. Some have to do with the nature of training that MPs receive. Now people from all walks of life are elected to come to parliament. People with different kinds of motivation get to the house. What does the institution do once all these 275 come in there?", she said on Starr fm's Morning Starr programme.

She further stated that even though parliament needs to bring in new MPs, it must assess the quality and experience of such new people. That is the only way, she believes parliament can stamp his authority on the other arms of government.

"Until we get to the point where we realise that parliament itself has to assert its authority, and even though I disagreed with Justice Atuguba during the election petition hearing, I applauded him for asserting the authority on the judiciary and letting everybody know that you can't just sit on air and say whatever you like about the judges. Parliament also needs to get to the point where it can hold the executive into account", she added.

Civil society organisations have over the years complained that Ghana’s parliament was a weak one and has failed to make its position on certain issues of national interest known.Ursula Owusu Ekufful however is of the opinion that a proper resourcing of the institution of parliament can revert the situation.