Clara Kasser-Tee
A twelve-member Constitutional Review Consultative Committee (CRCC) has proposed an upper limit on the number of constituencies that the Electoral Commission (EC) can create.
The Committee, chaired by Clara Kasser-Tee of the University of Ghana Law School, wants Articles 93 and 47 of the Constitution amended to cap the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) at 277.
Other members are Victor Brobbey of the National Commission on Civic Education; Prof. John Asafu-Adjaye of Africa Centre for Economic Transformation; Dickson Tweneboa-Kodua of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo of the National Media Commission, and Justice Yonny Kulendi of the Judiciary.
The rest are John Nwozah of Audit Service; Anthony Forson Jnr. of the Ghana Bar Association; Alfred Tuah-Yeboah of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General; Mercy Larbi of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice; Dr. Kodjo Mensah Abrampa of National Development Planning Committee, and Nana Tawiah Okyir of the Parliamentary Service.
The CRCC recommended that Article 93 of the Constitution should, therefore, be amended to read as, “There shall be a Parliament of Ghana which shall consist of not more than 277 elected members.”
It explained that the implication of this is that there must be consequential amendments to “Article 47 to place a numerical cap on the number of constituencies that Ghana must have.”
The CRCC said Article 47 must, therefore, be amended to read as “Ghana shall be divided into as many constituencies for the purpose of election of Members of Parliament as the Electoral Commission may prescribe; ever, the number of constituencies shall not exceed 277.”
Appointment of Ministers
The CRCC also recommended that the President must have the option of appointing persons, including MPs as Ministers.
According to the Committee, there must be an upper limit on the number of ministers that a President can appoint, and this upper limit should be 25.
The Committee again recommended that to reduce the size of government further, the privilege to appoint deputy ministers be expunged. “The President’s power to appoint deputy ministers should therefore be amended by deletion,” it noted.
The Committee said the provision of the National Security Council should include the head of Ghana Immigration Service; minister responsible for National Security; Economic and Organised Crime Office; the head of National Signals Bureau; the head of Ghana National Fire Service; the head of National Commission of Small Arms and Light Weapons; the head of National Disaster Management Organisation, and three other persons appointed by the President.
CRCC said the proposed National Security Council should consist of the President, the Vice President, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Defence, Interior, and Finance, the Chief of Defence Staff, and two other members of the Armed Forces, the Inspector-General of Police, two other members of the Police Service, and another person.
Background
On April 28, 2023, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, inaugurated the Constitution Review Consultative Committee (CRCC).
The Committee was tasked to review the 2011 report of the Constitution Review Commission; review submissions, proposals, and reports on various constitutional review platforms such as Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Institute of Economic Affairs (IA), University of Ghana Law School, University of Professional Studies (UPSA), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) etc. and make recommendations
The CRCC is made up of institutional representation through a process where the various institutions freely and independently nominated persons unto the Committee.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House