does not take four years to develop a Hon Member of Parliament. It takes more than two terms, perhaps even more than three terms to develop an Hon Member of Parliament. When we talk about the Hon Minority Leader today, he is not a yesterday's product and I am also not a product of the day before yesterday. Mr Speaker, we have been growing.
Incidentally, I heard a junior Hon Colleague saying on radio that if we do not renew Hon Members of Parliament, then persons such as Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu would not be coming up strongly. Mr Speaker, this person does not know the history of my party and he does not know the history of Parliament.
I started into the second term of my life in Parliament as a Deputy Whip, climbed up to Majority Chief Whip, I later became the Deputy Majority Leader and when my party lost power, I then became the Hon Minority Leader. I rose through the ranks; I did not come from nowhere to be made the Hon Minority Leader.
Mr Speaker, so those making these arguments do not even know the history of a certain Kyei-Mensah- Bonsu in Parliament. Today, when we mention people who are doing well in Parliament, a Mr Kyei-Mensah-
Bonsu would be mentioned, a Mr Haruna Iddrisu would be mentioned, and a Mr Bagbin would be mentioned. We are not instant products and people should appreciate this.
Mr Speaker, again, yesterday, I heard an Hon Member who does not belong to the ruling party say that for those who have lost the primaries, it meant an indictment on the performance of the ruling party and so the ruling party would then lose the elections.
Mr Speaker, if a highly-placed person in a party that is not the ruling party talks like this, then it means he is applying the wrong yardstick to measure the performance of Hon Members of Parliament. If this person is making this statement , then the foot soldier is right to say that the Hon Member is not bringing development projects and so the Hon Member should be removed.
On my way to Accra yesterday, I was listening to some of them who had won speak on a radio station, and one of them was saying that with the Hon Member that he unseated, the charge was that he was not in the constituency and does not come to the constituency, so he would stay in the constituency and work with them.
[Laughter] Mr Speaker, so who should be in Parliament to work?
Yet this was the charge of the person who had won. Another person was saying that the Hon Member had done little to bring development and so he has promised to bring development to his constituents and in the first two years he would spend time to fulfil his promises. Here we are; here we go again. So for that person, he measures the performance of an Hon Member of Parliament (MP) by development projects in his constituency, getting it wrong ab initio.
Mr Speaker, so we must be careful. I know that for a short time, it would really impact negatively on Parliament; committee chairmen whose capacity have been built to some extent, vice chairmen, ministers, deputy ministers have all fallen victims. In the short-term, certainly, we must admit that it would impact negatively on the Business we conduct in Parliament.
Mr Speaker, my appeal to those of them who have lost is to join forces with the people who have succeeded them warmly or rightly and team up to really work for the party. My joy is that those of them I spoke to yesterday, including the Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee
and the Hon Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, assured that in spite of what has happened, they would link up with colleagues and would put up their best to ensure that the Business before them are discharged. It is good to hear that.
Mr Speaker, we are all human beings, and we cannot pretend that they would come on board overnight, which is why I have decided to engage them. Those of them I have spoken to, including the Hon Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways, are all poised to come back and work effectively to have the Business in Parliament effectively discharged.
Mr Speaker, where we are, I believe the political parties must retrospect and look at their constitutions. They must have a second look at their constitutions. They cannot certainly go on this way. As I said, democracy everywhere, is guided and guarded.
For now, Mr Speaker, we have to live with what we have. Going forward, let us all agree that this cannot go on. It would really decimate Parliament, and we cannot grow on Parliament the way the political parties are conducting their internal affairs.