Ms Majda El Bied, Senior Programme Officer for Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) has stated that the WFD intends to support institutional strengthening of Parliament.
She said between 2010 and 2012 the foundation implemented cross-party briefing sessions for Ghanaian Parliamentarians with their counterparts from the British House of Commons. Ms Majda El Bied stated this when she led a delegation from the foundation to pay a courtesy call on Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye, the Speaker of Parliament at his office in Accra.
The WFD was established in 1992 after the fall of the Berlin Wall as an independent public body which operated closely but independent of the UK Government.The WFD has the vision of supporting universal establishment of legitimate and effective multi-party representative democracy by supporting inclusive governance which strengthens policy making, accountability, representation and citizen’s participation.
Ms Majda El Bied also stated that the foundation had plans to enhance the training of Committee clerks in administration and management with special emphasis on the critical support of the committee secretariat in parliament oversight. She said the WFD have made good progress in Ghana since they started this programme and want to work closely with the political parties.
She said the foundation want to build the capacity of the parliamentary staff so that they can conduct evidenced information research and to ensure MPs have access to high quality briefings that would enable them to hold government accountable. Ms Majda El Bied also stated that WFD would facilitate the establishment of an Inter-Departmental Research and Information Group (IGRIG) to support efficient and coordinated process of parliamentary research and information delivery.
She said the foundation would support MPs for cross-party engagement between UK and Ghanaian political parties to enhance development of democracy in Ghana. Professor Mike Ocquaye on his part commended the foundation for supporting the institutional consolidation of parliament in the past.
He said parliament was mindful of the foundation’s interest in the inter-departmental research and that the house would learn from the best practices around the world. He said the house appreciated the training programmes and visits in the past that had been held particularly in areas that had been identified by foundation to cooperate with the Parliament of Ghana
Professor Mike Ocquaye said parliament was looking forward to deepening the relationship between the house and the foundation. He said the house was starting an institute for Parliamentary studies which would be able to put in place the physical facilities but without the faculty and programmes.
He said the house was expanding the parameters of Parliament so that they could go to areas which were previously left out of their remit.