Undue Control of External Powers is What is Killing This Parliament—Dr. Agyarko Oduro
Dr. Agyarko Oduro has expressed his frustrations with the current state of our parliament, attributing it to what he termed undue control of external powers, which for him is killing this parliament.
Speaking on Kessben FM’s Amansan Tie, he cited an instance when the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) publicly attacked the speaker and their party leadership in parliament.
According to Dr. Agyarko, a party would change its leadership in parliament in the middle of its tenure when its term had not ended for no other reason; ‘’For me, it was vague,’ he said.
He stressed, “For those who do not know, the leader of the NPP caucus, Hon. Alexander Afenyo Markins, and the leader of the NDC caucus, Dr. Ato Forson, are very close friends.”
Hon. Markins stated in the last press conference that, anytime he has a discussion with Dr. Ato Forson, it does not yield fruitful results because there is a stronger power above him, which is giving the direction.
“One thing people should not forget is that the Speaker has been the longest-serving member of parliament in Ghana, and for this period he entered parliament with the ticket of the NDC.
Due to his partisanship, he even made the then secretary of the NDC, now the chairman, Asiedu Nketia, a member of the parliamentary service board.” He added.
He further expressed that the 2024 elections are just around the corner, so why the rush to cling to the majority at this period? For me, all that they are doing is to have the majority position in parliament, but to what extent? He questioned.
Moreover, he said that “this is the worst parliament in the Fourth Republic, he said. Some of us believed that having a split parliament would serve as a formidable organ that would check the executive arm of government.”
Dr. Agyarko claimed that the parliament has become a stumbling block to our democracy. It would have been better if Speaker Bagbin had not made his press conference because it was full of accusations of undermining state institutions.
We are in a silly season of politics, and everyone wants his party to come to power. “Without any equivocation, this is a disgraceful parliament.” Somebody should stand up and be counted, he pleaded.
