The Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, has slammed the Parliament of Ghana for failing to hold the executive branch of government in check.

According to Nana Nketsia V, the house has sat aloof as the menace of corruption grows in the country.

The chief, who made these remarks at a public forum to mark 30 years of Ghana’s Parliamentary Democracy in the Western Region which was attended by some legislators and the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on Tuesday, accused Members of Parliament (MPs) of not taking their jobs seriously.

“This institution known as parliament, for me, is more important than the other things they say, the executive and the judiciary. If parliament has not said anything, forget about the executive.

“Look at the COVID thing that was done at the airport, parliament should have probed; it is sitting down, looking at me. We heard about the Ameri deal, what happened, parliament didn’t do anything.

“You look at parliamentary sittings and they are hollow, you ask yourself, where are the committees, where are the discussions. Sometimes, you think that they are even joking in parliament,” he said.

He added that some MPs did not want a certain central government minister, and they made a whole lot of noise about it, but today, they (the MPs) have been silenced.

“What are they taking seriously in this country? You get a body of parliamentary people who say they don’t want a certain minister; they make noise about it and after they are all like dogs who have been clamped up.

“Who are these people, do they even deserve to be called honourable,” he said.

It is not clear whether the chief was referring to the over 90 MPs of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) who were calling for the head of the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, before the end of 2022.

The MPs are now silent after threatening not to support any business of the government that comes before the house if Ofori-Atta is not sacked by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

BAI/OBG



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