The Member of Parliament for Ho West, Emmanuel Bedzra says the Legislative arm of government is no longer the "weakest link" in the government.

Mr Emmanuel Bedzra said this in an interview with Evans Mensah on TopStory following President Akufo-Addo's letter to Parliament reversing an earlier decision to cap the budget of the House.

His view on the legislature no longer being the weakest link, he indicated, is owed in part to the Speakership being from the opposition party and partly to the current composition of Parliament which has 137 seats on either side of the aisle and 1 independent MP.

The Speaker has made it clear that he is number 3 when it comes to governance in this country and he shows clearly that his position as number 3 is not the weakest position.

"…and therefore Parliament will no longer be the weakest link in this governance system among the 3 arms of government - the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary. All the time, the Executive has had its way and the weakest link being the Legislature [an arm of government that has not had] the full support of the Executive".

According to him, the President's decision to backtrack on an earlier directive after criticism by the Speaker is one of the many victories the Legislature has chalked.

The President's recent decision on expenditure follows an earlier statement signed by the Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo indicating there would be a GH₵77 million slash in estimates presented by the Judiciary and GH₵119 million from the estimate by the legislature.

The statement was not welcomed by the Speaker who threatened to block the approval of the 2021 Budget Statement.

But in a reversed decision on the matter, President Akufo-Addo in a letter to Parliament conceded to an error on the part of the Executive.

Parts of the letter read: "I agree with your position that proceeding to reduce the budget without the consideration of this provision would be potentially unlawful. The letters to Parliament in respect of the budget expense for Parliament, the Parliamentary Service, the Judiciary and the Judicial Service were dispatched by the Secretary to the President under the mistaken belief that the figures contained in there were agreed between Parliament and the Ministry of Finance and the Judiciary and the Ministry of Finance respectively".

Reacting to the issue, Mr Bedzra asked for the matter to be investigated.

"We should investigate to find out whether truly the Secretary to the President made the mistake or it is in connivance with whoever is in charge," he stressed.

The MP for Ho West, however, lauded the efforts of Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu who doubles as the Majority Leader and the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in helping resolve the matter.

In view of the many misunderstandings between Parliament and the Presidency, he asked that a Minister for Parliament Affairs be appointed to liaise between the 2 arms of government.

"It is good to have a Minister in charge of Parliamentary Affairs who will be the link between Parliament and that of the Executive. Just as we have the Minister in charge of Justice who will be the link between the Judicial Service and that of the Executive.

"If Kyei Mensah the Majority Leader and the Minister in charge of Parliamentary Affairs wasn't a member of the cabinet then maybe the negotiation would not have been so smooth. It is good to have a link between the Executive and that of Parliament.

"We thank him for what he did behind the scenes and we all say he has done very well and we should learn our lesson from here," he said.