The Parliament of Ghana on Monday, November 20, 2023 made a bold statement to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that they have no business in its legislative functions, and cautioned it to stay away.
In a show of power, the West African nation’s parliament said never will it kowtow to the dictates of the Bretton Wood institution, which has requested through the Government of Ghana to consider and approve the age-long Affirmative Action Bill under a Certificate of Urgency.
The Speaker of the 8th Parliament of Ghana, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who led the onslaught at the ‘Speaker’s Breakfast Forum’, organised by the Parliament of Ghana, in collaboration with Star Ghana Foundation, said granting the request of the IMF has dire consequences on the citizenry.
He told a group of Civil Society Organisations that attended the forum that he wasn’t surprised about the request of the IMF, since the former British colony was being remotely controlled by interested parties abroad, as a result of its refusal to generate its own resources internally to manage the economy.
On May 17, 2023 the Executive Board of the IMF approved a 36-month arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), in an amount equivalent to SDR 2.242 billion (around US$3 billion or 304 percent of quota).
The program was based on the government’s Post COVID-19 Program for Economic Growth (PCPEG) which aims to restore macro-economic stability and debt sustainability and includes wide-ranging reforms to build resilience and lay the foundation for stronger and more inclusive growth. This, however, comes with a number of conditionalities, all geared towards making Ghana financially disciplined.
However, the no nonsense Speaker said the Affirmative Action Bill, which he considers a very important Bill in the history of the country, would not be considered under a Certificate of Urgency, assuring that Parliament would take its time to engage all stakeholders that matter most in the Bill, before passing it into an Act.
“…you can see the arm of the IMF in a lot of issues in the budget and a critical Bill like the Affirmative Action Bill or Gender Equality Bill has come to Parliament under a Certificate of Urgency. Please, it won’t happen. We won’t pass it under a Certificate of Urgency. There are critical stakeholders we must consult and make sure we go together.
“We will not be dictated to by the IMF. That one you can be sure of. This is a very critical bill that the IMF itself should know that we need a by-in of the stakeholders to be able to implement it”, he noted to the applause of the gathering.
He added, “The IMF should know that the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) has fixed 2040 for all parliaments in the world to reach gender parity 50-50. Not only Parliament but outside Parliament, and we need to deliberately focus on this and this must be legitimatised in our law. We cannot under a Certificate of Urgency go through this one and get it properly positioned”.
Rt. Hon. Bagbin sounding so emotional over the issue, further noted that the Parliament of Ghana would at all times be guided by a resolution that was passed at the IPU and do the right thing that would inure to the benefit of the citizenry and in effect, enhance parliamentary democracy.
“A resolution we passed at the IPU is that any Parliament that fails to get gender parity by 2040 will not be a member of the Parliamentary Union, but an observer. That will be your status. I know what we stand to lose from that. Ghana will not be left behind.
We have a long way to go in Parliamentm, 14.5% to get to 50% and we will be passing laws under a Certificate of Urgency and be getting the blame, not the IMF, and when they get to the Supreme Court, they strike out the law and they say Parliament is not good. Please not under my watch”, he stressed.
Per the dictates of the 1992 Constitution and that of the Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana, a committee of Parliament decides to the plenary whether a Bill should be considered under a certificate of urgency.
Article 106 (13) states that: “Where it is determined by a committee of Parliament appointed for the purpose that a particular bill is of an urgent nature, the provisions of the proceeding clauses of this article, other than clause (1) and paragraph (a) of clause (2) shall not apply, and accordingly, the President shall give his assent to the bill on its presentation for assent.
When Parliament reconvened on October 30, 2023 the Speaker directed the committee on Gender and Children, chaired by Francisca Oteng Mensah to consider the urgency of the Affirmative Action Bill and report to the plenary, since the government wanted it to be considered under a certificate of urgency.
However, at a sitting on Friday, November 17, 2023 the Ranking Member of the committee on Gender and Children, Helen Adjoa Ntoso, told the Speaker that the committee was yet to meet over his directive.
According to an article, which was published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Ghana, titled the Law-Making Process: Structures and Procedures, “When a bill is introduced under a Certificate of Urgency, the Council of State has 72 hours to consider and to make subsequent recommendations.
If the Council of State does not propose any amendments, the chairman must send a Certificate of the Council’s decision to the President within 7 days.
“If the Council decides to include proposed amendments, the chairman must send a memorandum of the proposed amendments to the President within 15 days after the Council’s decision. Upon receipt of the certificate or memorandum, parliament considers the comments and recommendations of the Council and casts a vote. A two-thirds vote passes the resolution”.
Abantu, a non-profit non-governmental organization that is into strengthening the capacity of women to participate in decision making process at all levels defines Affirmative Action as an active remedial mechanism or policy aimed at removing discrimination, improve the rights and socio-political progress of non-dominant groups who are historically disadvantaged.
Ghana’s political system encourages stereotyping of women and puts men at the top in everything. The Affirmative Action Bill, which has suffered so many setbacks for more than a decade seeks to correct this imbalance and increase the participation of women in decision making. It provides for a 40 percent representation and participation of women in governance, public positions of power and decision making.
By Stephen Odoi-Larbi
