Amend constitution to protect first time MPs – Lecturer suggests to NPP

Dr Osei Bonsu, a Political Science lecturer at the Methodist University-Ghana has suggested to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to amend its constitution to help protect and retain first time Members of Parliament (MPs).

The modification, he explained, would help strengthen the party at the grassroots level and would also give enough time for the MPs to perform well at the constituency in enhancing the party’s chances to be retained in power for a longer period.

Dr Bonsu noted that the MPs should only be contested after two successive terms, by which time they would have proved whether they deserve extended terms or not and underscored the revision of the constitution would likewise help curtail vote-buying in the party, especially during their internal elections.

“The party should expand and register all card-bearing members who will be qualified to vote in their primaries in electing the right people to represent them instead of giving the mandate to a few delegates. Some parliamentary aspirants, two months to the recently held primaries were allowed to register new members at the party’s offices as delegates to enable delegates to vote for them without considering the damning consequences.

“To avoid the issue of vote-buying, I recommend to the party to compile a list of all card-bearing members in all the constituencies to qualify them to vote for the best and popular candidates to represent the people and the party, it will be difficult for parliamentary aspirants to bribe the large numbers of delegates in voting for them in primaries using the Bantama Constituency in the Ashanti Region as a case study,” Dr Bonsu asserted.

He recommended to the president and the NPP campaign team to exclude MPs especially the newly elected aspirants from the campaign team and rather compel them to go to their various constituencies to campaign effectively and efficiently to help the party retain power in the December 7 polls.