BOYCOTTING PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS: REAL OR STAGED?

The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), led by the late Ft. Jerry John Rawlings, was the longest-serving regime that ever ruled Ghana during the post-colonial period. The 12 years of authoritarian rule ended in January 1993 with the inauguration of the Fourth Republic. The inauguration was preceded by presidential and parliamentary elections on November 1992 and December 1992, respectively. The country formulated and implemented laws when the country returned to constitutional rule in 1992.

Today I want us to examine the members of parliament walking out of parliament whenever they are displeased. Parliamentarians have to approve bills before they become laws. Parliamentarians have the power to pass bills affecting the lives of millions of Ghanaians. We understand because they are representative of the people, and it is acceptable for them to make decisions on behalf of their constituents, but what is abhorring is them walking out when they are supposed to fight on behalf of the citizens.

Something tragic happened in 1992. The Ghana bar association and a few concerned bodies rejected the drafting and enactment of the 1992 constitution. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) withdrew from any action that had to do with the framing of the 1992 constitution of Ghana. The problem of the country started at this juncture. With Ex-President Rawlings bent on drafting the 1992 constitution, he called upon carpenters, tailors, farmers, and semi-illiterates to help write the constitution.

With all the knowledge of Professor Adu Boahen, his NPP gurus, and the Ghana Bar Association did not partake in the drafting and passing of our constitution, which has been in existence for 30 years. Rawlings was unperturbed by this development, and because he wanted his ideologies to carry on, he organized citizens who had little or no idea about the law to participate in the drafting of the constitution. NPP rejected the passing of VAT and was the reason for the Nana Addo-led Kumi Preko demonstration, which claimed the lives of some Ghanaians. Funny enough, the Kufuor-led government increased Value Added Tax, something they opposed its enactment.

In August 2003, the NDC also boycotted parliamentary proceedings related to the passage of the National Health Insurance Bill and accused the majority of dancing to the whims and caprices of IMF by increasing VAT by 5%. NDC used precedents to buttresses their actions. Ten years later, NPP in opposition also staged a walkout when the NDC-led government wanted to increase VAT by 2.5%.

In 2007, NDC boycotted the State of the Nation Address because the Kufuor government tried and jailed former Minister of Trade and Industry Dan Abudakpi for ten years for causing financial loss to the state. NPP followed this precedence in 2010 and boycotted parliamentary proceedings indefinitely because of the arrest of Akufo Addo, a then communicator for the party. The list is endless, NPP has boycotted several SONAs, and NDC has done the same.

When the executive presented the electronic levy to parliament, all hopes were high because the opposition party strongly disagreed with the bill. At the time of the enactment of the bill, the standard of living in the country was appalling and more taxes added more hardship for the citizens. The first time in the history of our fourth republic that both political parties have the same number of parliamentarians. Surprisingly on the day the bill became law, the minority in parliament staged a walkout, and finally, the electronic levy became a law.

Boycotts of parliamentary proceedings and walkouts have become the most used tool MPs use to protest against national issues or conduct they disagree with disrupting parliamentary activities. Although such boycotts are part of exercising democratic power, most Ghanaians questioned the moral and logical foundations and whether the interest of these constituents represented by these MPs is valued and present. The above shows that our parliamentarians are protecting their party interests rather than the people of the constituency they represent. I think that boycotts used by this political party are just distractions but are really in cohort whether it is NPP or NDC in power.

Every time there is a staged walk-out in parliament, despite their agitation the bills are passed, so why do they still walk out instead of fighting for the constituents they represent?