Deepening Ghana's democracy

Ghana has enjoyed stable democracy since the inception of the 1992 Constitutional rule, which anchored on partisan democracy and the rule of law.

This practice has put Ghana on the spotlight in the community of nations as one of the stable and fast developing economy with it attendance successful change of regimes through the ballot box without conflict

Our attendance has been drawn to the recent happening in our legislature, the third arm of government, is the key determinant of issues confronting our multi-party democracy. The legislature determines the present and the future direction of the economy, it maintain peace and insecurity in our country by affirming their will on proposal in a form of bill presented, by the Judicial and the Executive.

Considering the enormous powers vested in the legislature by the constitution, it is therefore envisage that partisan loyalty will be minimize in the delivering of their mandate as enshrine in the constitution, the legislature create a opportunity for majority of the citizens to participate in governance, bringing to bare enormous experience and expertise to enrich nation building

Recent happening in the chamber is a call to concern and leadership should leave beyond criticism, reduce partisan interest and affiliate to the least minimum to enable the state to realize it maximum benefit in terms of parliamentary practices, with diverse background and culture of our members to contribute to the development of our motherland.

Presenting a mid-year budget as a statement rather than a motion limited the quality of policy formation and breaches the law of procedure of meeting and affect best practices since little opportunity is created in a form of debate to enrich policy formation. It is important we strengthen our institutions rather than promoting our parties for the next election, we have exchange the values of democracy and engage in Godfather democracy.

Budget statement are projections government and business base their plans on, so therefore if budget could not meet the required target, it defeat projections made by businesses and affect the direction of the economy in general, normally these problems occur when projections are over ambitious or in available of accurate data to assist in the preparation

It kills business confidence and reduces international community interest in the economy since focuses are wrong

Backbone of good governance demands the speaker to ensure his neutrality at all times, encourage healthy debate and promote transparency in the floor of parliament.

Government should give an accurate projection to enable the economy to grow for businesses to achieve their projected target.

Thank you

Evans Amoo
Executive Secretary