Government has seen a lot of flip flops in the introduction of many of its policies
Democracy they say is based on consensus building and as a result, calls for dialogue. Since the advent of the fourth republic, Ghanaians have seen an increase in the growth and level of our teething democracy. When it comes to democracy, we as a nation are not perfect and have not reached there, but we can say that we have made progress.
Since the birth of the fourth republic, the composition of our parliament had been such that, the ruling party always has a clear majority such that laws and programs are passed through parliament easily, on some occasions without the support of the minority. As a result of this situation, the need for consultation, consensus-building and bi-partisan engagement with the minority has been relegated to the background. Parties have walked out of parliament leaving the other side to push through their laws and programs with ease.
The composition of our present parliament has been as never before. During the 2020 elections, Ghanaians in their wisdom gave us a hung parliament. The two main political parties each had 137 MPs with one independent MP who has opted to work with the NPP. I am even told that the composition is split when it comes to the female MPs with each party having 20 women.
I believe that this composition did happen for a reason. It means Ghanaians want to tell our MPs that there is the time and the need for consultation and consensus-building. Observation with this hung parliament is that the majority group still seems to live in the past thinking that with their “majority”, they can have their way without consulting the minority group and as such, they can push their agenda through with ease without the minority.
On the other hand, the minority also think that, with their numbers, they can thwart the efforts and programs of the ruling government. The majority not consulting the minority and other stakeholders have resulted in flip flops of many government programs and initiatives.
The frequent withdrawal of government programs and initiatives after their introduction does not look good for the ruling government. It doesn’t look good for the government when they always put the cart before the horse when it comes to introducing programs and initiatives and later go back to consult when those programs face opposition. In many instances, the government comes out with an initiative, and because they failed to engage and consult the minority and other stakeholders, the latter will react and the government has to withdraw or amend the initiative.
What comes to mind readily talking about government flip-flops dates back to the introduction of the Agyapa deal. The policy might have been good but the government had to withdraw it and the reason for the withdrawal was that there was little or no consultation as such the minority and other NGOs stood against it and finally it was withdrawn and has not been brought back again.
During the reading of the 2022 budget, the minority raised many objections to some portions of the budget and according to them, there should have been pre-budget consultations that were not done so they objected to those portions. The government has to come back with some changes to accommodate the minority’s positions. Also, during the same budget, the government decided to remove the benchmark on importation of goods, and here too the minority and other stakeholders like the Ghana Traders Association raised issues all in the name of non-consultation and the policy has been suspended.
The Ghana Education Services recently came out with changes in the academic calendar and the traditional trimester system was changed to a semester system. No sooner had the announcement been made than the teachers union and other stakeholders expressed their disapproval of the newly introduced system. The reason given for the objection to the new system was, as usual, a lack of consultation. Let’s I forget, on the government's flagship NABCO program, the Chieftaincy Ministry came out to sack the NABCO staff in their ministry and within 24 hours they came back to reverse the directive.
This government has seen a lot of flip flops in the introduction of many of its policies and it doesn’t look good for the government. This seemingly indecisive posture of the government makes people think that the government is not serious in its governance. More seriously, it portrays the government as living in the past. Living in the past in the sense that they still believe that they are operating under the old parliament composition where because they had a majority, they didn’t need the minority and other stakeholders when they want to come out with a policy.
A serious government will not always come out with a policy and then withdraw it because what should have been done initially was not done. Pre-budget negotiation and consultations should have prevented much brouhaha about the proposed e-levy. What prevents the government from consulting with the minority and other stakeholders when they are introducing a policy?
Considering the comments from mostly the majority MPs and the communication team on the e-levy shows that they are not learning and the arrogance and pride with which they comment on the e-levy show that they are still living in the past. With the composition of the present parliament, one is of the view that the two parties will work together to find a common ground when it comes to policy initiatives. The present hung parliament calls for negotiations and consultations between both sides of the political divide otherwise we will always come to a deadlock and nothing will seem to be get done in the parliament. To the minority, the present state of our legislature doesn’t call for entrenched positions when it comes to approving government policies. They should be flexible in their dealings with the majority because tomorrow they can be in the majority and will need the other side to help them govern.
On the e-levy, much as many people are against it, the minority should negotiate with the majority and find a compromise situation because assuming the bill is passed and who knows what, the NDC comes to power in 2025, will they abolish it? The e-level cake and other things from the majority side are uncalled for and do not help resolve the impasse on that bill.
The winner takes all mentality that has characterized our body politic in the past should give way to consultation, bipartisanship, and consensus-building. To the ruling NPP, I say they should come out to the reality and look at the composition of the parliament to inform their decisions on how to work with the minority and learn to consult and negotiate when necessary if they want to see their programs go through parliament.
On the e-levy, organizing town hall meetings to “solicit” the views of citizens after the bill is laid before parliament doesn’t look good for the government and I hope NPP will learn from the e-levy fiasco and do the right thing anytime they want to come out with any program. Another suggestion to the NPP communicators is that they should tone down their rhetoric when they are talking when their party is introducing a program or an initiative because they will need the minority if they want to see the passage of those programs. Let the two parties realized that the dynamics of our parliament have changed and they should change their modus operando accordingly. The “we don’t need the minority” and “we can do it without them” mentality should give way to consultation and cooperation if we want our MPs to perform the duties for which we sent them to do on our behalf.
If we want to continue with our lack of consultation and engagement, the flip flop will become the order of the day and nothing can get done in parliament. The hung parliament calls for change in the old way of doing things in the body politic by the two parties and the order of the day should be consultation, consensus building, bi-partisanship, and negotiations, failure of which we will continue to witness the chaos that we have seen in recent past in our parliament. Flip flops by any institution is a defeatist sign and the NPP should as much as possible avoid it the only way to do that is to consult and build consensus.