A general manager at the Graphic Communications Group, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, says the failure of Parliament to reject some of the president’s ministerial nominees is a manifestation of the Executive’s hold on Parliament. Addressing former Members of Parliament in Accra on Wednesday, the senior media practitioner said the house fairly reneged on its constitutional mandate of checking the Executive. Although he would not mention names of nominees that should have been axed, Mr Ayeboafoh suggested the house could have done a better job in the selection process. Mr Ayeboafoh said the powers and influence of Members of Parliament are gradually being compromised as a result of such failures on their part. Parliament vetted and passed all 75 ministerial and deputy ministerial nominees without rejecting any of them although a few of the nominees were thought to be unqualified to handle the portfolios to which they have been assigned. He warned the Legislature could become irrelevant if it continued to rubber-stamp decisions of the Executive without recourse to merit. Mr Ayeboafo stressed that MPs must not allow decisions they reach in the house to be influenced by the selfish interests of their parties. He said MPs must rather hold the interest of the nation paramount in their deliberations in the august house. Public criticism of parliamentarians, in recent times, has increased with accusations that the decisions they make are underpinned by certain party interests. The media expert also stressed that the Legislature’s powers have been further compromised by the constitutional requirement that the president chooses majority of his ministers from Parliament. “The unintended consequence is that Ghanaians including the MPs themselves hold the impression that being a minister, no matter the portfolio, is more prestigious than being an MP though one can never be a minister if one is not qualified to be a Member of Parliament. “What it means therefore is that either by commission or omission the relevance of the MP to national development and democracy is under-realised while they serve in office because of the application of the party whip,” he stressed. Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com