Akufo-Addo’s appointments will weaken Parliament – ACEPA

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo must reflect on his ministerial appointments and reshape them given the implications it holds for the Majority in parliament and the quality of work in the House in general, Dr Rasheed Draman, Executive Director of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), has said.

According to him, the appointment of MPs serving as chairs of parliamentary select committees will further weaken the Majority’s front in the legislature because those members would not have the time to engage in parliamentary work.

Out of the 110 ministers appointed by the president, 64 are Members of Parliament. But Dr Dramani said such appointments does not bode well for the Majority in parliament.

He told Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra100.5FM on Thursday 16 March: “I think that this is good for the opposition in parliament because if you have a weak Majority in parliament, in terms of the fact that people are not going to be focused so much on parliamentary work, I think it is good for opposition in terms of ensuring that they can be up and doing and to hold the government accountable.

“But I think this is a classic case where people have been saying over and over again that we need to really decouple the executive from the legislature. If we are not careful, we will wake up one day and the entire members of the ruling party in parliament will be gone into the executive and we will not have anybody paying attention to parliamentary duties.

“This is not good and I think perhaps the government really will need to do some reflection on this issue.”