EDITORIAL: A Presidential Ridicule

President John Mahama

The President could not have ridiculed the work of Parliament any worse than he did when he descended upon the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) a few days ago.
It was a serious query, an indictment on the performance of the PAC at a time when all efforts are needed to strengthen state institutions especially those on the frontline in the fight against the ripping of the public kitty.
Expectedly, it made the headlines and triggered a plethora of opinions and impressions about the Number One Citizen’s commitment to the work of Parliament and by extension, democracy.
The snide remark which was what the President passed when he likened the work of the PAC to a drama performance or a concert party is a disservice to the Legislature. Attacking it as our President did is to undermine its work and reduce its self-esteem among the good people of Ghana.
As a former Member of Parliament of several years standing, and a good one of course, such remarks cannot attract for him plaudits from observers and cherishers of democracy.
Such below-the-belt remarks should not originate from persons who should know better than the ordinary citizen what the PAC stands for in a parliamentary democracy, more so when the originator of such insults is the President.
One of the fundamental duties of Parliament, which is the monitoring of the public purse and how state institutions draw and spend the proceeds from this source, is so critical that anything such as cynic references as the President did can undermine this function and democracy as a whole.
The Auditor General for instance is responsible for auditing how public funds drawn from the state’s kitty are expended according to the terms spelt out. A small fraction of this is brought before Parliament whose appendage, the PAC, scrutinizes.
We do not want to believe that his exit from the august house upon becoming Vice President and now President has changed what Parliament stands for in his estimation. That would be unfortunate.
It is for a purpose that the chairmanship of the PAC is held by a nominee of the Minority in Parliament, a worldwide democratic convention, something the President-led Executive should know and appreciate.
The proclivity to ignore the budget and operate outside it has occasioned in the costly fiscal logjams now a feature of the executive led by the President.
The occasional naming and shaming of thieves of state are characteristic of the work of the PAC and if this is the kind of embarrassment the President referred to when he said there is a deliberate project to ridicule government by the PAC, so be it. Those who steal from the public purse should suffer such embarrassment.
President Mahama by such uncharitable observation about the PAC has embarked on a hari-kari mission and it is regrettable because the end is messy.