Audio By Carbonatix
Parliament has only recently made the headlines for all the controversial reasons. First it was the decision to overlook Ghanaian companies and turn to China for chairs whose quality have been questioned. Some of the chairs broke down just a day after they were fixed and nearly downed one of the MPs.
Then came the decision of the Speaker Doe Adjaho, who in the absence of the President and his vice, refused to be sworn in as acting president despite holding himself out as such.
And while the Legislative arm of government plays a crucial role in the democratic governance of the country, actions by Ghana's MPs have only given critics the ammunition to run down the institution.
On Joy FM's Ghana Connect programme, Friday, the panel subjected the institution to thorough and occasionaly harsh scrutiny.
The Comments by Rodaline an aspiring MP were not charitable.
She says Parliamentarians are self seeking and that most of them go to Parliament to make money. According to Rodaline, out of 275 MPs just 10 or 15 people are functional with the rest warming the benches. Her faith in Parliament is all but gone.
Jerome Kuseh, a blogger, was sympathetic towards the legislative arm. He says he believes in Parliament.
He says even though their recent actions appear questionable, the House has the potential to do more than it is doing. He is convinced Parliament represents the people more than the Executive does for which reason Parliament has to be supported.
He is however unhappy with the inability of MPs to speak their minds on issues they feel passionate about.
Representing the Civil Society is Abu Mubarick INFORMGHANA who says his opinion about Parliament is divided.
He loves Parliament because it is the only arm to check the Executive but at the same time professes to hate Parliament because some of their recent actions have been questionable. His stomach churns with the Chinese chairs saga.
Dominic Nitiwul is the deputy Minority Leader and had a responsibility of mounting a strong defence for a House that has been under heavy attack.
He admits that Parliament has some challenges- challenges occasioned by the fact that the House is normally the worst affected any time the military takes over.
And given that the military had taken over a number of times, he believes the House has suffered greatly and is now trying to make itself more and more relevant.
He says Parliament represents the wishes of the people but has a problem with the citizenry who also votes people in, not on their own strengths, but on their affiliation to parties.
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