Politics of Friday, 31 December 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-12-31Current posturing in parliament a setback to our democracy – Deputy Speaker
1st Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu
Previous parliament have always negotiated on issues – Osei Owusu
‘Either you do what we want or we do not go on’ posture, not the best – Osei Owusu
First year of 8th Parliament not the best – Deputy Speaker
1st Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s
Read full articletarget='_blank' href='/GhanaHomePage/people/person.php?ID=3205'>Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu has said the current posturing of the caucus in parliament was a setback to the strides Ghana had chalked in her democracy.
According to the deputy speaker, the majority and minority caucuses’ behaviour of not opposing procedures in parliament to when they do not agree on issues was not the best.
He said the first year of the 8th Parliament was not the best, adding that the stance of some members to disagree with issues if it does not go their way, is a wrong move.
Joseph Osei-Owusu who made these remarks in an interview with TV3 noted that the posturing of “either you do what we want or we do not go on”, has never occurred in any of the previous parliaments.
“This is the first time we are experiencing this. It has always been even if you do not agree with us, we would state our position clearly and sometimes offer an alternative solution not necessarily better but at least an alternative and tell Ghanaians that the way these people are doing it if we had the opportunity, we would do it that way. We always state our position, disagree, and state alternatives.”, he said.
He said, even at times where the number of the majority group far outweighed the number of the minority there were also negotiations among the members.
“Over the years even when we have wide differences, the biggest difference we had was in the 7th Parliament – the had minority 106 and the majority had 169 - even then our practices have always been to as much as possible negotiate, take on board the concerns of the minority because there is no government that on its own can manage everything here in this parliament of Ghana
“When my party was a minority in the 5th and 6th Parliament, stated on position on issues when we are strong in advocating the finance minister or the minister of the particular ministry would call, we discuss issues and negotiate,” he added
