Extra Classes For MPs

Learning the ropes of an institution, especially one steeped in convention like the legislature, is critical for new entrants. It is for this reason that we find it useful and commendable the orientation programme initiated for fresh parliamentarians. Such programmes and the informal mentoring by old hands in the house would obviate gaffes like greenhorn MPs asking the Speaker to sanction members of the parliamentary press corps or even blocking minority MPs from walking out. We have observed, and ruefully so however, that since the inception of the current session of parliament, the conduct of some fresh MPs has obscenely smacked of ignorance of the workings of the legislature. The ignorance has manifested in some MPs not able to differentiate between a �walkout� and a �boycott,� with others even asking that minority MPs be physically blocked from leaving the chamber. Hon. Samuel Ablakwa Okudzeto, one of the new entrants in parliament, has not learnt the ropes adequately and continues to commit avoidable and embarrassing gaffes. Perhaps, his Information Ministry propaganda traits have taken a toll on his senses and unfortunately followed him to the House of Parliament where the seeds of discord he seeks to sow must be denied oxygen before they germinate. Seeking to direct the parliamentary press corps on how it should conduct its work, which Hon. Ablakwa�s appears to want to do, is an attempt to take over the responsibilities of editors who are responsible for the presence of reporters in the august house anyway. The MP has reportedly demanded that punitive action be instituted against the parliamentary press corps for, in his estimation, abandoning the chamber for a press conference of the Minority in Parliament last Tuesday. The Speaker subtly ignored the request, a suggestion that the MP has more to learn about the House if he did not do so during the orientation programme organized for his colleagues. Journalists who are assigned to cover parliamentary proceedings decide on what to cover and even file reports on them. That is their prerogative and they do not share that with the ilk of Mr. Ablakwa who lost his claim to sincerity and reverence and even honour, long before he started sporting his new title of Honourable. Remember when he lied about government�s creation of 1.6 million phantom jobs? Hon. Ablakwa Okudzeto is a contagion in Parliament, whose words and actions must be held at bay, lest they scuttle the rules of the legislature and especially create a schism between this arm of government and the media. Hon. Ablakwa�s bellicose posture since he set foot in parliament is inconsistent with the building of a cohesive nation, parliament and above all democracy. Having earlier failed in a crazy bid to have minority MPs barred from quizzing ministers because of their boycott of the vetting process, he appeared not to have learnt anything. In another instance of ignorance, another greenhorn MP, Hon. James Agalga, is toying with the puerile idea of dragging minority MPs to court. Such persons need extra classes in Parliamentary procedures and much more.