Professor at the University of Ghana Ransford Yaw Gyampo has taken a swipe at the current Parliament, describing members as “toothless” and lacking the competence to function as expected.
He said by the hang Parliament created as a result of the outcome of the 2020 elections, a lot was expected of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic as an oversight body on the Executive.
“[But] both sides do not really appreciate the mandate that was given to them by the people of Ghana,” he noted on TV3‘s News 360 on Thursday, December 8.
“They don’t mean business and they are not to be taken serious[ly]. They are more toothless than the predecessor institution that had clear dominance.”
Prof Gyampo was speaking in the wake of the failure of the House to push forth a motion of censure against the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
The motion, which was filed by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, and seconded by the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, was voted on Thursday.
However, the motion was lost as the votes failed to meet the mandatory two-thirds majority of membership of the House.
All National Democratic Congress (NDC) members (MPs) in the House at the time – 136 – voted for the motion but the Majority members staged a walkout just before the secret balloting.
Prof Gyampo chided the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs, saying they have demonstrated lack of political will to the extent that none of them today has the “boldness to speak to the earlier position they expounded”.
He also lashed out at the Minority for failing to live up to their promise to reject nominees of the President – the Finance Minister in particular – when he was re-elected in the 2020 elections.
“This Parliament cannot be taken serious,” he stressed.