Concerns have been raised by Speaker of the Parliament Alban Bagbin regarding the effects on the legislature and Ghana’s democracy of the loss of seasoned lawmakers from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the National Patriotic Party (NPP).
Both major parties’ primaries resulted in the defeat of a number of influential Members of Parliament (MPs). Some have also declared that they will not run for reelection in the following year.
In order to ensure that resources are not continuously wasted, Mr. Bagbin has called on all stakeholders—particularly the political parties—to address this problem and stop it from happening again. On Tuesday, February 6, he said these things during a parliamentary session.
Honourable members, as if the Black Stars’ performance wasn’t bad enough, we lost 28 MPs in the NPP primaries by the time we woke up one Saturday evening. We lost 17 MPs in the NDC primaries earlier in the year.
Honourable members, the electoral process includes primaries to decide who will represent the people in parliament. However, the deselection of 17 and 28 after the voluntary discontinuance of 5 and 19 is not a positive sign for the legislature or Ghana’s democratic development. We all know that experience matters in this house, but your party’s support is just as significant.
“But, honourable members, the expense and damage to the country are issues of serious concern that everyone involved should take into account. The country invests a substantial amount of money in each individual MP, only to have it squandered every four years, so I want to make an appeal to the political parties to take this seriously,” he stated.
