By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
A Former Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament under the Fourth Republic, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye has called on the Majority and the Minority in Parliament to build consensus at all times.
According to him, consensus building is critical in handling matters in the House currently.
Professor Mike Oquaye who was at a point a Member of Parliament (MP) for Dome-Kwabenya, believes most of the issues that have been generating disagreements between the two sides of the House can also be resolved amicably by reaching a consensus.
The Former Speaker made the point in an interview with the media, indicating that there will be a time when the Majority and Minority sides will have no option, but to rely solely on consensus to get proceedings going in Parliament.
“A time will come when consensus will develop because there will be no alternative to consensus building,” Professor Mike Oquaye reiterated.
Regarding absenteeism in Parliament, Prof Oquaye indicated that it was one area he failed to tackle successfully.
“I must confess that absenteeism is one area I did not really succeed in tackling, I did not succeed in tackling punctuality. I did it a while and I stopped,” he admitted.
The Former Speaker is also suggesting that the House keeps proper records on members’ engagements during their stay in Parliament.
Prof Oquaye confessed that he failed to ensure that there was even a record of how Members voted. Explaining that members must vote in a certain direction and that all these have not been properly documented.
“…we had two former Members of Parliament contesting for President – Mahama, and Akufo-Addo. Unlike America when Obama’s record was brought out as a Senator, we do not have that here. But it is also important to have these things because you want to know for example if you want to be President, what is your record on women, job creation, youth development, etc?” he noted.
