The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has given some tips to constituents who love to change their Members of Parliament frequently.
He said that to be able to sustain development, an MP must have stayed long in parliament to mature and network to be able to bring about development.
”Those of you who change your MPs like shirts that’s your problem because to be able to get the development you have to be there for some time, you have to mature, you have to network, you must be known.
“So if I’m now a Speaker do I need a minister to come and give me development? He has to come because he needs favour from me. I don’t need to call him. If you are a first-time MP and you call, they do not even know you,” he said.
The Speaker said this when he paid a courtesy call on the overlord of the Gonja Traditional area as part of activities marking the 30th celebration of Parliament. He was talking about Ghana’s democracy in the last 30 years.
He stated that, despite being an advocate for MPs staying in parliament for a long time, he was referring to MPs who are performing, and the need for them to be allowed to stay for a long time to mature.
The Speaker said Ghana has practiced democracy for the past 30 years without any interruption, something he said has never happened in the country’s history.
In celebrating the achievement, he said there was the need for an evaluation to find out where the country got it right and wrong.