The on-going public hearings at the Parliament of
Ghana’s Public Accounts Committee on how state institutions have been
spending tax payers’ money in the past fiscal year have given the legislative
body a new face. By tackling the public perception that
corruption is growing and accountability low, Parliament is gradually
neutralizing the public feelings that it does not reflect Ghanaians’
concerns genuinely.
Despite lack of research assistants, shortage of
staff, effective communication gear, and offices for fuller legislative
work, the 230- member parliament has performed some superb
legislative works such as passing the controversial Domestic
Violence Bill that seeks to protect women against violence. Parliament
has criminalized the dreaded cultural practice of female genital
mutilation, banned “trokosi,” a cultural practice in some parts of the
Volta where teenage girls are enslaved to shrines for sins committed
by their parents, decentralized the Ghanaian system, and passed
the Whistle-Blowers Act.
While grilling of senior public officials on how
they have been spending public money in the nascent democratic system is not exciting,
it is out to enhance governance, transparency and accountability.
In its 21 years of military regimes and 6 years
of one-party governments, Ghana never heard about any report from
its Auditor General. Even during President Jerry Rawlings regime, with
its high sounding accountability, probity and transparency campaigns
(some of came in the form of executions of senior military
officers for corrupt practices) the Auditor General’s report on the accountability and transparency of Ghanaian
public institutions was either never made public nor presented to
Parliament for debate and scrutiny. This makes today’s public
cross-examination of head of public institutions “not an indictment of government, but an
attempt to promote transparency in governance and check corruption,”
says Presidential Spokesman, Mr. Andrews Awuni.
Scrutinizing heads of public departments and
agencies isn’t enough; Parliament has to broaden its anti-corruption
networks by encouraging state and private anti-corruption ventures like
Serious Fraud Office, Ghana Integrity Initiative, and Ghana
Anti-Corruption Coalition.
Even if Ghana Audit Service, a key light of
transparency and driver of its democracy, is riddled with challenges
such as staff performance and logistics, this can be solved by
parliament asking for support from the private sector. While cultural,
ethical, religious, moral and scientific approaches have to be mixed
and juggled constantly to address corruption, the Parliament of Ghana,
a symbol of Ghana’s democracy and developmental reasoning, should be
reminded frequently where the country’s democracy has come from and
where it is headed.
By Kofi Akosah-Sarpong
Expo Times Independent Sierra Leone
Journalist
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