Mr Alban Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, Tuesday called for collaboration between Parliament and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to nurture and sustain Ghana’s democracy.
“By working together, we can create a more transparent governance system,” Mr Kofi Attoh, Chief of Staff at the Office of the Speaker of Parliament, said this while reading a speech on the Speaker’s behalf during the opening of a two-day workshop for CSOs and Think Tanks in Accra.
The Citizens’ Bureau of Parliament organised the workshop on the theme: “Working with the Parliament of Ghana.”
He urged participants to commit to nurturing the partnership, recognising that collaboration was the key to building a stronger, more inclusive and resilient democratic society.
Mr Ebenezer Ahumah-Djieteror, Deputy Clerk, Corporate and Financial Management Services to Parliament, who spoke on behalf of Mr Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah, the Clerk to Parliament, said a vibrant Civil Society was one of the cardinal features of a functional democracy.
He said over the past three decades, CSOs had played very important roles in nurturing and sustaining Ghana’s democracy.
“From the formative years of Ghana’s Fourth Republic till date, CSOs and Think tanks have contributed in diverse ways to strengthening the institution of Parliament and supporting to enrich the legislative process with their expertise, rich perspectives and research,” he said.
“It is in recognition of these critical roles CSOs play to positively impact the work of Parliament that the Legislature continues to expand the frontiers of collaboration with CSOs and think tanks in various ways.”
Mr Djietror noted that the partnership found expression in Parliament’s Corporate Strategic Plan, which, among other things, sought to institutionalise its engagements with CSOs and Think tanks as opposed to ad hoc engagements.
“…It was in response to this and from various engagements with CSOs that the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, inaugurated the Citizens’ Bureau as an office in Parliament to be responsible for facilitating CSO engagement with Parliament.”
The initiative was significant as Parliament sought to make it easier for CSOs to engage, obtain or share information with Parliament to enhance the quality of its decisions in the interest of citizens, he said.
The Deputy Clerk explained that Parliament existed to serve the people of Ghana and CSOs remained strategic partners that worked directly with citizens and aggregated their views on critical issues across various sectors.
As a result, he called for an effective Parliament-CSO
engagement, beyond positively impacting decision-making, to allow CSOs to support in its bid to enhance awareness of the work of Parliament.
“It is for this reason the Speaker commissioned the development of a manual titled: “Working with the Parliament of Ghana: A Guide to CSOs/Think Tanks”.
The manual is expected to provide detailed information about the functions of Parliament, how Parliament performs these functions, and how COS and think tanks desirous of working with Parliament can do so.
It is an important reference material that would be made available to all CSOs and think tanks to facilitate their engagements with Parliament.
