There has to be a national conversation about what the role of members of parliament should be for their constituents. A national conversation would help decide whether MPs should only be legislators, makers of laws, or should lead constituency development, or both.
This, when done, would allow MPs to know where to focus their energies. Additionally, the general populace would be measured in their demands from MPs.
Maxwell Ziyerley Abgambilla, one of seven individuals who have successfully filed their nominations ahead of the NDC’s primaries in the coming weeks, made these comments when he spoke to Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show recently.
For Mr. Agbambilla, the MP has two primary roles; “help in crafting laws for our country and oversight responsibility, but of course, because of what our system has become, you also become sort of a development agent.”
About redefining the roles of MPs, Mr. Agbambilla said, “This is a conversation we should have as a country. What do we want our MPs to do? I think that is one of the difficulties of our country. For those of us who want to do honest politics, it is sometimes very difficult.”
Because of the undefined roles MPs are expected to play, some individuals, having an interest in leading their constituencies, “make all sorts of lofty promises to people. When I become an MP, I will do this and that as if MPs have a budget. An MP simply doesn’t have a budget.”
“It is when you get into Parliament, and, because somehow we have turned our MPs into development agents, your party is in power, and, by the Grace of God, you catch the President’s eye to appoint you, or even if you are not appointed, you can lobby. The word that should be used is lobby. I do not know how I can go about promising a road when I don’t even know who would be the roads minister. When I do not even know what budget would be allocated to road construction next year, yet we go about and make those promises.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
