No hiding place for promise-happy ministers

Penplusbytes is working together with the CGA
to improve people's access to their MPs
Pix Credit: Penplusbytes

It was and still the case that politi­cians make or give promises and assurances when they mount political platforms, especially during campaigns.

The development has got many people worried because the greater number of these promises, pledges or assurances often go unfulfilled.
It is in this light that the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances (CGA) has sprung itself to life, having been almost unnoticeable since it was constituted in 1998.
Until the review of its standing orders in the foreseeable future, the CGA is keeping close eyes on promises and assurances given by ministers and their deputies on the floor of parliament or at sittings of committees of parliament.
Last Monday, the Committee, which now also holds televised public hearings with sector ministers, announced the expansion of an initiative it launched in 2014, tagged: “Connecting Citizens to Parliament.”
The initiative uses well-developed digital platforms to facilitate interaction between the CGA, civil society groups and ordinary citizens as a way of tracking or monitoring the extent to which govern­ment executes assurances and projects promised by government.
Hon. Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, CGA Chairman, told audience at a re-launch of the online initiative in Accra that: “Our platform is simple; we will put assurances and promises given by the state on our platform and we expect citizens living in those areas to give their comments as to whether those assurances are being fulfilled or not fulfilled. That is all about this online platform.”
Mr Bedzrah, also Member of Parlia­ment (MP) for Ho West Constituency, said so far the initiative has “been working ef­fectively.” He cited that when the commit­tee filed notice on its platform that it was visiting Brong Ahafo Region concerning five polyclinics, which the Minister of Health had promised would be completed, “we had people posting pictures of the completed hospital and ministers visiting on the online platform. This alone tells us that citizens are really waking up and they want to know what we are doing and what is happening out there.”
The pilot of the platform, which mar­ries applications like twitter, facebook, whatsapp and text-messaging, in 2014 was supported with funding from STAR-Ghana which has since exited, allowing last Monday’s re-launch to kick start multiple-year funding from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
The technological aspect of the http://www.assurances.gov.gh digital platform project is anchored by the indigenous Inter­national Centre for ICT Journalism or Penplusbytes.
According to Kwame Ahiabenu II, President of Penplusbytes, “Technology today is making a lot of influence…If you look at our space today, citizens want to be empowered. They want to reach out to government…it is important now to lever­age technology in terms of how we can connect citizens to parliament.”
He added that “The beauty of the tech­nology is that we are able to harness all those inputs into relevant feedback so that when the members go on their validation visits or to do forums with citizens they can use that knowledge.”

This story was originally written for and published by Weekend Sun on Friday, March 20, 2015. Visit: http://thesunonlinegh.com