The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has expressed concern over the impact of losing experienced legislators from both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the National Patriotic Party (NPP) on the legislature and Ghana’s democracy.
Several key Members of Parliament (MPs) were defeated in the primaries of the two major parties. Additionally, some have announced their decision not to seek re-election in the upcoming year.
Mr. Bagbin has called on all stakeholders, especially the political parties, to address this issue and prevent its recurrence to ensure that resources are not continually wasted.
He made these remarks during a parliamentary session on Tuesday, February 6.
“Honourable members, as if the Black Stars’ performance was not bad enough, we woke up one Saturday, and by the evening, we had lost 28 MPs through the primaries of the NPP. Earlier last year, we lost 17 MPs through the primaries of the NDC. Honourable members, the primaries are part of the process for the electorates to determine who represents them in parliament. But the case of voluntary discontinuance of five and 19, followed by deselection of 17 and 28, is not a good signal for the legislature and for Ghana’s democratic development. Experience, as we all know, counts in this house, but the endorsement of your party is equally important.”
“Honourable members, the haemorrhage and cost to the nation, however, are matters of great concern worth considering by all stakeholders, and I want to appeal to the political parties to take this up seriously because the investment that is made in an individual MP is so huge for the nation just to go to waste after every four years,” he stated.
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