Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof. Philip Ebow Bondzie-Simpson, has proposed an amendment of the constitution to place cap on the number of constituencies and parliamentarians.

According to him, such a constitutional provision will prevent the usual arbitrary creation of constituencies by political parties in power.

Prof. Bondzie-Simpson, who was speaking at the first Constitution Day lecture held on Monday said it is best for the country to have Members of Parliament to match the population size of their constituencies.

“The number and quality of MPs……I believe that the constitution must set a practical and reasonable number of MPs on an average. The formula should be that the number of seats allocated to a region should correspond to the population of that region.”

Stop appointing MPs as ministers – GIMPA rector advocates

Meanwhile, Prof. Philip Ebow Bondzi-Simpson has also called for the end of appointment of Members of Parliament as ministers.

According to him, burdening individuals with the responsibility of representing their people in parliament and serving as ministers of state does not ensure effective governance.

“I believe that MPs should not be ministers. Not that there is not a good case for MPs being ministers because in some democracies we do have that but how has it worked?…There is so much business to be done in a country that is hungry for development,” he said.

Ghana marks maiden Constitution Day Holiday

Ghana on Monday, January 7, 2019, marked the maiden Constitution Day public Holiday.

The day was set aside by the Akufo-Addo administration to recognize the coming into force of the 1992 constitution and the beginning of the 4th Republic.

The government urged the public to use the day to reflect on the country’s democracy.

As part of government’s activities to mark the day, the Ministry for Information held a public lecture under the theme, “Constitutionalism in The Fourth Republic Towards Functional Performance”.

The lecture was delivered by the rector of GIMPA, Prof. Bondzi-Simpson.

Constitution Day a “celebration of mediocrity” – Gyampo

The Head of European Studies at the University of Ghana, Prof. Yaw Gyampo, believes that Ghana’s celebration of a new public Holiday, known as the Constitution Day, as a public Holiday, is a celebration of “mediocrity”.

According to him, the 1992 constitution in its current form, “contains monumental hindrances that cannot be glossed over anywhere in the world, where right-thinking people rule.”

In a Facebook post on Monday expressing his thoughts on the celebration of today [January 7, 2019] as Constitution Day, Prof. Gyampo expressed regret that although the previous government recognizes the challenges of the current constitution including the excessive power, it confers on the executive, minimal effort has been made to revise it.

After several years of analyzing the provisions of the Constitution, I have come to the conclusion albeit debatably that the 1992 Constitution, was formulated to console just one regime that was hesitant in giving in to democratic rule. Consequently, it confers enormous powers to the executive rather than checking or bridling the exercise of same in a manner that in the words of Lord Acton, corrupts,” he said.

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By: Nii Larte Lartey & Naa Shika Ceaser  | citinewsroom.com | Ghana | [email protected]

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