Eschew ego, indiscipline for stronger Parliament - Speaker urges MPs

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has implored Members of Parliament (MPs) to eschew ego and acts of indiscipline to ensure a healthier and stronger Parliament.

He urged them to demonstrate humility and exemplary leadership by clamping down on conducts and utterances that negatively impact the reputation of the House.

“What you say is not only to society but also to yourself, and it will manifest itself in you. Once articulated, our statements become irrevocable, and there are repercussions as they profoundly impact our reputations.

“We should engage in conduct with the highest sense of decency, simplicity, humility, professionalism and accountability,” Mr Bagbin added.

Speaking at the first breakfast prayer meeting of the ninth Parliament of the Fourth Republic in Accra yesterday, the Speaker said it was important that MPs engaged in communications

that “edify, create and bring peace”.

The meeting was organised by the Christian Fellowship of Parliament on the theme: “A better and stronger Parliament.”

It was attended by the clergy, led by Nicholas Duncan-Williams, Founder of Action Chapel International, MPs, CSOs and staff of the Parliamentary Service Board, who prayed for the executive, the legislature, the judiciary and the citizens.

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The Speaker reminded the MPs that their collective image as MPs was a direct reflection and conclave mirror of the legislature itself.

Each action they undertook, he added, had a significant impact on the overarching reputation of Parliament.

“We bear a profound responsibility to uphold and fortify this institution, given that we are the bedrock of the democracy we champion,” Mr Bagbin said.

He said one of the distinguishing hallmarks of an altruistic and conscientious leader was the ability to give others the invaluable gift of selfless service.

Such leaders, the Speaker said, cultivated an environment where collaboration and support thrived, inspiring those around them to rise to their full potential.

“Humble yourselves and accord purity to the needs of your constituents. It is through the embodiment of genuine leadership that one is able to cultivate a profound sense of community while also instilling a higher purpose of integrity.

“Such leadership not only elevates individual talents and experiences but also contributes to safeguarding a better, healthier and stronger Parliament, which ultimately becomes a blessing to the society as a whole,” he said.

Mr Bagbin said that a community enriched by servant leaders was a testament to the empowerment of its members.

Posterity

The Speaker further said in an era of the fourth industrial revolution in which the world had become a global village, leaders must not overlook or disregard the fact that whatever they did today was being observed by the youth for which they would be judged.

“We should always strive to be remembered for the wrongs we corrected rather than the rights we abused and this is copiously covered in the Holy Bible,” he said.

As leaders of today, Mr Bagbin said, MPs must truly exemplify values that would inspire the youth and not those that would inadvertently become distractions that could lead to the downfall of the nation.

He, therefore, reminded the lawmakers to imagine a future where the youth would recount stories of their leadership with disappointments, viewing them as “missed opportunities rather than catalysts for change”.

Unity

Quoting from Matthew 12, Archbishop Duncan Williams said every kingdom, city or house that is divided against itself would be brought to destruction and, therefore, cannot stand.

He said it was the principle of God that when people are united, they are “better together than when we stand alone”.