MP calls for amendment of the constitution

Accra, Aug 31, GNA - Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, Member of Parliament for Asawase, has called for the amendment of Ghana'a Constitution to enable the leadership of political parties to find replacements for their Members of Parliament (MP) who die before their tenure of office ends.

"The struggles and campaigns that ensue soon after the death of a Member of Parliament does not allow us to give a befitting burial and funeral to someone who has sacrificed his life for his constituents". Mr. Muntaka who spoke to the GNA after raising the issue in his tribute to the late Doris Seidu, former MP for Chereponi, on the floor of Parliament said tension, bitterness and rancour that mounted in Lambussie, Kumawu, Bimbilla, his own constituency, Asawase, and Akwatia were all testimonies to his assertion.

He explained that the amendment of the Constitution should be such that only the party of the deceased MP would look for his or her replacement through thorough screening, instead of the current situation where an election was organized for all parties to field their candidates again for the vacant slot.

The Asawase MP said the by-election system was creating enmity among contesting parties instead of uniting them to pay their last respects to the dead.

"If we continue that way, it would look like we are rather more interested in their replacement rather than sympathising with the bereaved families", he said.