By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament and President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has admonished delegates attending the 66th CPA Annual Conference to encourage ourselves to endeavor to restore dignity to elected offices and to rebuild trust and confidence in democratic processes and institutions.
According to the Speaker, the recent spate of military incursions into governance in Sub-Sahara Africa should be a course of worry.
Addressing participants at the opening ceremony of the 66th edition of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPA) currently ongoing at the Accra International Conference Centre, the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament and President of the CPA, explained that high-level of corruption, nepotism, neglect of the hopes and aspirations of the electorates in pursuit of personal and parochial interests on the part of the political elites are some of the contributing factors to the growing mistrust between the electorates and the politicians.
“High-level corruption, nepotism, neglect of the hopes and aspirations of the electorates in pursuit of personal and parochial interests and policies that only deepen poverty and deprivation levels, whilst supporting ostentation among the political elite would only generate mistrust among the electorates. That explains why in some of our countries, election into public offices has become highly transactional between candidates and voters, with instant personal gratification as the currency. This only serves to accentuate the cycle of mistrust that is fueling the dissatisfaction with political leadership and institutions in the sub-region.” He reiterated.
We in Ghana feel a sense of accomplishment as hosts of the 66th edition of the CPC. Our experimentation with parliamentary democracy is now a full-blown feature of our governance architecture. This year, we celebrate 30 years of stable parliamentary democracy. Ours is a stable democracy in a sub-region that has in recent times developed a notoriety for reversing and backsliding on its democratic journey. Speaker Bagbin added.
He therefore, appealed to Parliaments in the sub-region and in Africa in general to try and understand the reasons for the loss of trust and confidence in the leadership of democratic processes and institutions that has characterized the recent spate of military incursions into governance.
“We should be able to pick the signals should there be any, and steer our democracies away from such incidents.” The Ghana’s Parliament and President of the CPA maintained.
Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff from over 180 national, state, provincial, and territorial Parliaments and Legislatures across the Commonwealth through its network are attending the 66th CPC in Accra-Ghana.
