The expected hold-up of government business in parliament could possibly be averted if both sides of the divide are willing to compromise on their stance.
The current power struggle between the NPP and NDC in parliament over the majority in the house emanates from the ruling of the Speaker declaring four seats vacant. With the ruling of the Speaker, the NDC minority now becomes the majority and vice versa as three of the seats declared vacant come from the ruling party.
However, the verdict of the speaker came without a fight from the NPP as they headed to the Supreme Court to undo the ruling of the speaker. The Supreme Court in its ruling ordered for a stay of execution. However, the speaker and the NDC have given indications to override the verdict of the Supreme Court.
With this tense stalemate, government business in the house including loan agreements, financial agreements, bills, and spending approvals for next year among others risk facing a setback that can negatively impact major sectors of the economy this year and next year.
Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Lord Mensah believes the fate of these loan agreements, financial agreements, bills, and spending approvals heavily depend on the posture of the two sides.
The Professor of financial economics is the view that both sides of the house must compromise on their stance in the interest of the smooth running of the nation.
He calls on the party losing seats to compromise as dictated by the constitution while the new majority quickly reconstitutes their committees for government business to proceed without delays.
“From where I sit, it depends on the parliament’s posture. The parliament represents the people and they should have the people at heart. From where I sit, I am not a constitution expert, but what is right is right. What the Constitution says its what we go with. Those who are losing their seats to relinquish their majority position in parliament to be ready to do that. And then those who are taking up the majority position, should be as fast as possible reconstitute their committees so that we get business running for the country,” Prof. Lord Mensah noted.
He maintains that given the current state of the economy and the limited time to crucial elections, the country cannot come to a standstill due to the uncompromising positions of the two parties in parliament.
He said, “we cannot afford to get another hold up as a result of parliament’s composition uncertainty. This is part of political risk which cannot be overlooked when it comes to public financial management. From where I sit, they just have to sit up.”
As parliamentary sitting resumes tomorrow, Tuesday, October 22, all eyes will be on the House to find who wins the battle of the majority. It will also establish who’s ruling stands; the Speaker of Parliament or the Supreme Court.
