Needless to reduce seats in Parliament - Bagbin

The new Majority Leader Alban Bagbin has said his opposite number’s call for a reduction in the number of legislators in Ghana’s Parliament is needless.

According to Bagbin, the creation of more constituencies that automatically leads to an increase in Parliamentary seats enhances decentralisation.

The Nadoli Kaleo MP told Accra-based Citi FM that creation of more seats brings the people closer to government because it gives them effective representation in the House.

The Minority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu disagrees and has called for a drastic reduction of the number of seats in Parliament from 275 to 200. The number of seats were increased from 200 to 230 after the December 2000 elections and was subsequently increased to 275 prior to the 2012 general elections.

According to him, the current arrangement in Parliament makes it difficult for backbenchers in Parliament to contribute effectively to activities in the House.

“The Chamber must be such that anybody can see the Speaker and the Speaker can see everybody. The situation where others are in columns right in the chamber and cannot be seen by the speaker, honestly is going to be bad,” the Suame MP said.

However, Bagbin said Ghana’s case is “different from other developed countries” because breaking down the constituencies into smaller units helps MPs to focus on the needs of their constituents.

He argued that it comes with a lot of benefits and saves cost, although large, when one takes a critical look at the “cost-benefit analysis.”

“The more number of constituencies the better for us to perform… Is part of decentralisation. We are able to reach out better to the people than when we were smaller,” Bagbin noted.