The gains of Parliamentary Democracy in Ghana can be better enhanced if journalists who report from and about the August House are well equipped with adequate knowledge and skills to communicate more effectively. This will also ensure a balanced and productive relationship between the Legislative arm of government and the avowed “Fourth Estate of the Realm” as the media is often called.
Parliament being a representation of the people and the media as the representation of the voices of the same people, makes a collaboration between the two institutions very necessary.
The purpose of this write-up is therefore to draw on the contributions of the media; more specifically the contributions by journalists stationed in parliament towards the realization of the 25 years of Parliamentary democracy in Ghana with almost a negligible support of the host institution over the years.
The Parliamentary Press Corps of Ghana (PPC) is an association of journalists specialized in reporting on the institution of Parliament. This association is as old as the Fourth Republic of Ghana and needless to say that by its own assessment, it has lived up to the task by keeping the general public up-to-date on proceedings in Parliament as well as news about their elected representatives. This said, the need for a closer relationship between the two cannot be over emphasized.
The key issue however is the poverty in the management of the relationship between Parliament and the parliamentary reporter and to a large extent the PPC. This relationship is unavoidable in a multi-party system in which freedom of expression is held in high esteem.
The duality of the relationship between Parliament and the PPC must not affect the ability of both institutions to work together since the Institution of Parliament and its constituent MPs rely on the media to deliver their messages and opinions. On the other hand, the media has the role to monitor and to critically analyze their work.
As Ghana celebrates 25 years of uninterrupted Parliamentary Democracy, the general media in Ghana and the Parliamentary reporter in particular must also be acknowledged and commended over roles they played in preventing potential political crisis inherent in every democratic system as a result of the management of the people's expectations.
It must not be lost on us that the establishment of a parliamentary democracy necessarily comes along with huge expectations from the people, especially in a new political environment of change, where priority is given to transparency and integrity and a sense of eagerness for their voices to be heard in the civic space.
Whereas the election of a Parliament is to ensure that the people are represented to participate in political decision making process of the state, more often than not, the relationship between voters and parliamentarians has been a one-way affair and only resurrected during election periods. That is when the politician needs the mandate of the voter.
This phenomenon has often given rise to strong tensions between elected representatives and citizens, which then leads to public mistrust in the democratic institution. It is therefore essential to build a genuine relationship of trust, not only between elected representatives and citizens but more importantly, between elected representatives and the parliamentary reporter so as to prevent crisis.
Leveraging on the role of the media to create spaces for information, education, analysis, dialogue, and peaceful interactive debates, the journalist plays a unique role in building bridges between the people and the people's representatives in the multi-party democratic space by facilitating the participation and direct contribution of the citizenry to legislative work through new interactive platforms.
Watch out for the concluding part of this write up.
By Clement Akoloh
The writer is Editor of Africa News Radio (africanewsradio.com) and a senior member of the Parliamentary Press Corps, Ghana (PPC).
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