Consult electorates before voting for policies – Mp’s told
Dean of Studies and Research at the Institute of Local Government Studies, Dr Eric Oduro Osae has urged Members of parliament and assembly members to consult their electorates before voting for decisions.
According to him, the practice of Assembly members and MP’s not consulting their electorates before voting for decisions was against representative democracy and called for laws to make it mandatory for such leaders to go back and consult the people they represent.
Dr Osae said this during a one-day sensitization workshop for non-state actors (Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Traditional Authorities on the Local Governance Act (Act 936) and the Revised Planning and Budgeting Guidelines for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) held in Wa.
“If we are able to do that then we will be truly implementing representative democracy – but the way it is now, it seems to me that Assembly members and MPs represent their political parties rather than representing their people”, he said.
Dr Osae noted that decisions and voting of Assembly Members and Members of parliament should reflect the interest of the people they represent at the various levels.
He however called for the incorporation of traditional systems and practices into modern day governance in order to enhance our development process.
“We have relegated our traditional customs to the background and copied blindly from the develop world – but I think if we are able to incorporate our traditional practices into modern day systems, it will help our governance system”, he said.
Dr Osae said to do this, there is the need to bring back the quality assurance people have in the traditional system into the modern day governance architecture.
He said this quality assurance system associated with the traditional system was what was needed in modern day governance in order to ensure that democracy through popular elections brought about the election of the most competent and most popular person to lead the nation.
He said democracy by popular elections only led to the election of the most popular person but not the most competent person, adding that “I think we have to go back to our roots, it will help us”.
Source: otecfmghana.com
