Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu is asking for a national dialogue on the impact of money on parliamentary democracy.

He observed that the time has come for a national conversation on the country’s body politics to ascertain whether the votes of an electorates is a reflection of popularity of a candidate, or whether the government is unpopular or its money that rules the day. 

The Tamale South legislator contributing on the floor of the House to comments made by the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye on the need to protect the sanctity and integrity of Ghana’s Parliament which is fast eroding by the day.

He stressed that the monetization of politics lately needs to be looked at, emphasizing that for Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah and the Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ben Abdallah Banda among others to be kicked out of parliament is unfortunate, a situation he believes is crippling the parliamentary democracy.

About 40 sitting New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament who stood for elections to be retained as the party’s parliamentary candidates going into the 2020 elections had lost their primaries.

That’s almost 25% of all the 169 NPP MPs in Parliament. Simply put, almost one in every four NPP Member of Parliament lost Saturday’s contests. That’s even after about 65 others sailed through uncontested. The casualties could have been more if it was a free-for-all fight across all the 169 constituencies. 

The list of losers includes 13 Parliamentary Committee Chairmen, four Parliamentary Committee Vice Chairmen, three Ministers, three Deputy Ministers and 16 MPs without portfolio. Parliament has 14 Standing Committees and 16 Select Committees that oversee various aspects of the nation’s governance and work in the legislature. Leadership on almost half of the Committees have been given red cards by the people who sent them to the House.

Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr. Kwabena Twum Nuamah; Chairman of Food and Agricultural Committee, Kwame Asafu Adjei; Chairman of the Defence and Interior Committee, Seth Acheampong; Chairman of Works and Housing Committee, Nana Amoako; Chairman of Poverty Reduction Committee, Godfred Tangu Bayon; Chairman of Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah and Chairman of Communications Committee, Fredrick Opare Ansah have all lost.

Also, Chairman of the Education Committee, William Quaitoo; Chairman of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, Ben Abdallah; Chairman of Government Assurances Committee, Collins Owusu Amankwaah; Chairman of the Gender and Children Committee, Dr. Kojo Appiah Kubi; Chairman of the Trade and Industry Committee, Nana Amaniampong Marfo and the Chairman of Youth and Sports Committe, Alex Agyekum have also lost.