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According to Mr. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Speaker of the Parliament, chiefs must be permitted to take part in active party politics in the nation.
In light of this, he has suggested that the constitutional clauses that forbade chiefs from actively engaging in politics be reviewed. He also stated that Ghana “needs to re-orient its democratic architecture and ensure that the wisdom and expertise of chiefs can be tapped to enhance representative governance in the country.”
Mr. Bagbin emphasized the urgent need to address the citizenry’s seeming exclusion from benefiting from Ghana’s democratic experience.
He presented the idea yesterday in Takoradi as part of celebrations for 30 years of parliamentary democracy.
The forum was on the theme “30 years of parliamentary democracy under the 4th Republic: The journey thus far.”
“We need to listen, think together, and we’ll be taking stock on what we did wrong with our leaders, that chiefs should not be in active politics and that’s not helping us. They used to govern; today we have imposed other chiefs on our chiefs, so we have District Chief Executives” Bagbin stated.
Mr. Bagbin highlighted that historically, Africans had a democratic culture that encouraged competition and that the idea of parliament had been established in kingdoms and empires long before the arrival of the white people (Europeans).
According to him, the three pillars of administration, which the Fante Confederacy imitated, were used in the kingdom systems to ensure that people moved in various directions and bonded with one another.
“We Africans started with so many of the things and they came and stole from us, polished, rebranded and brought them back to us as if there were new things that we are to learn from,” Mr Bagbin added.
According to Mr. Bagbin, people shouldn’t be fearful because God had blessed Ghana so greatly; instead, they should be patient until the errors were fixed.
He claimed that the ‘explosion’ of social and political upheavals currently sweeping across sub-Saharan Africa was proof that the populace had lost its connection to government.
After 30 years of democratic experimentation, according to Mr. Bagbin, it is vital for Parliament to engage the populace, explain the issues facing them, and offer advice on how to resolve them.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
