Fights in Parliament making my job 'discomforting' – National Security Minister

CPA holds 3-day workshop for stakeholders in Parliamentary affairs

MPs fight over E-levy

Kan Dapaah calls for collaboration in hung parliament

National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, has suggested that the brawls between Members of Parliament in the first year of the 8th Parliament is putting him in a position of ‘discomfort' as he discharges the role entrusted upon him by the President.

Speaking at this year’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting in Accra, he touted the benefits of a hung parliament stating that it helps in holding the government accountable.

He however stressed that it would be important for more collaboration between both the majority and minority sides of the House as the country “navigates this unfamiliar path” of a “parliamentary crisis”.

Albert Kan-Dapaah indicated his unhappiness with the current tensions in the house after he had, on a lighter note, stated that his position has changed from National Security Minister to Minister for National Stability.

“An objective diagnosis of the current legislative situation is the first step towards avoiding the pitfall of a destructive parliament. This enables the appreciation of the fact that the tools needed for the successful conduct of business in and around parliament are completely different from that used in parliament where there is a palpable numerical difference between the majority and minority.

“Is a hung parliament the best system for emerging democracies in Africa?.. some say yes but we need to be able to work together to realize the benefits of the hung parliament. I think an appreciation of this fact will enable the deadlocks that arise from a hung or near hung parliament to be considered as necessary conflicts which should elicit the application of proactive conflict resolution mechanisms such as consensus building and joint solving approaches rather than a confrontational means which more often than not further foil disagreements and unnecessarily entrenched positions of the two sides of the house much to the discomfort of the minister for national stability,“ he said Tuesday January 25, 2022.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association workshop was on the theme “Effective parliamentary scrutiny, gender sensitivity and complexity,” and is billed to end Thursday, January 27.