Amend Constitution to cap number of MPs to 2 per region - Kofi Bentil advocates

Majority Leader advocates for reduction of ministers to 19

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu says some since 1993 have not added value to governance

Kofi Bentil justifies proposal, maintains it would be fair

Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has called for the number of Members of Parliament (MPs)

Read full articleto be capped at two per region.

Per the proposal of Mr. Bentil, Ghana will then have thirty-two MPs representing constituents in the sixteen regions.

In a Facebook post, the private legal practitioner also suggested that the number of ministers should be pegged between 19-20.

His call comes on the back of similar advocacy made by Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.

“It’s time we Constitutionally cap the number of Ministers to 19 or 20, per Art 76. and also amend the constitution to tie the number of MPs to 2 per Region, so we will only have 32 MPs!! Instead of allowing EC to bloat our Parliament,” Kofi Bentil wrote on his Facebook wall.

“As long as we establish regions as a unit, we can use that unit system. for eg each region has ONE minister regardless of population. so they can each have 2 MPs regardless,” he emphasized while responding to a Facebook user who argued that his advocacy for two MPs per region will not be fair because that won't be representative since some regions are more populated than others.

Background

Delivering a lecture on the topic “The Relevance of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution Within the Context of Global Democratic Practices” in KNUST last Tuesday, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu advocated for a reduction in the number of ministers to 19.

“It is my contention that apart from regional ministers, the number of central government ministers may not have to exceed 19, as contained in the Constitution, and that means ministries should also not exceed 19,” he said.

The Suame MP also said that ministers under successive governments have not added value to governance which has led to the country getting stuck since the dawn of the 4th Republic.

“We are stuck as a nation because many of our ministers do not add value to our governance. I am not talking about the current NPP administration. I refer to all administrations since 1993.

“The time has come for us to place in the Constitution an upper ceiling on the number of Ministers of State that we should have,” he stated.

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