Don’t appoint regional ministers from 8th parliament - President advised

Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana’s Department of Political Science, Dr.Isaac Owusu-Mensah has advised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to avoid appointing regional ministers from the eight parliament in order to prevent the constraint on the Government.

Explaining why there may be a constraint on the next Government, Dr.Owusu-Mensah told Samuel Eshun on e.TV Ghana’s Fact Sheet: “Beyond the numbers the Government is still even at a disadvantage because if you look at the constitution, it is very clear that majority of your cabinet ministers must come out of parliament . So that also puts some constraint on the Government but the president has worked in parliament before. He has been a legislator for a number of years so he also has some experience”.

Commenting on what the President should do, he stated: “My recommendation will be that he should not appoint regional ministers from parliament. If he appoints a regional minister who is in North East for instance and there is a very important bill and he has to come and vote, how does he move quickly to come and vote?

Beyond the fact that you have the slimmest of the majority, certainly you have some as whip, some as majority leader and others who are engaged in some form of parliamentary business, then they may not even be at the floor of house”.

The political scientist was positive that while there is no “real majority”, both parties will build a consensus and work for the development of the country. “I am happy to say in the past they have worked so well at the committee level without bringing partisan interests at the committee level and it has worked so well for us as a people and as a country and I am hoping and trusting that they will move that into the floor of the house”, he said.

Out of the 275 seats in Parliament, the Electoral Commission announced that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has 137 seats with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) having 136 seats and an independent candidate occupying one seat. The Sene West Constituency seat result is still outstanding.