MPs should not be Ministers - CEPA Fellow

Dr Samuel Nii Noi Ashong, a Senior Research Fellow, at the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) has called for an amendment to the portion of the Constitution that required the President to appoint majority of his Cabinet from Parliament.

Fifty-eight per cent of respondents in a Ghanaweb poll conducted August 2002 supported the position of Dr Ashong (POLL RESULT)

He said the 1992 Constitution needed a fundamental shake-up to ensure the actualisation of the concept of separation of powers in the body politic, which the Constitution itself guaranteed.

Dr Ashong was contributing to a discussion at a seminar organised by the World Association for Christian Communication, Africa Region at Abokobi, near Accra on: "HIPC Initiatives and Africa's Debt Burden - How Best Can The Burden Be Lifted from Future Leaders?"

He deplored the situation where the American and British systems of government had been merged and was being operated in Ghana, saying: "It will do us more good, if we adopt one of the systems or develop our own system and agree to operate it with a deep attitude."

Article 78, Section 1 states: "Ministers of State shall be appointed by the President with prior approval of Parliament from among members of Parliament or persons qualified to be elected as members of Parliament, except that the majority of Ministers of State shall be appointed from among members of Parliament."

Dr Ashong said the Executive, to be very effective and responsible, must come into office with his own team of ministers outside of Parliament.

"The Legislature must be allowed to concentrate on the job of legislating laws, while the Executive also aimed at executing their elected roles."

Dr Ashong explained to the Ghana News Agency that it was extremely difficult for a Minister, who doubles as a Member of Parliament (MP) to come to Parliament and criticise or offer objective criticism on a policy he or his colleagues had introduced.

"This is the difficulty that many Ministers from Parliament face today, juggling between two or more jobs."

He suggested that an MP appointed to be part of a President's governing team must first resign from Parliament, making way for another person to fill that office.

The situation is that Parliament has suffered from the lack of quorum to take major decisions and its leadership has repeatedly appealed to the members to do away with absenteeism and the seeming lack of their commitment to the work of the House.

Dr Ashong said such a situation had arisen because most of the MPs were Ministers and Deputy Ministers and they either had to serve Parliament well and neglect their ministerial duties or vice-versa.

Some political analysts the GNA spoke to, endorsed the suggestion, saying it would enable lawmakers to have enough time on their hands for the job they were elected to undertake.

Besides, MP's would have time to interact more with their constituencies on a more regular basis.