Reduce MPs from 275 to 200 – Minority Leader

The Minority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is proposing a reduction of the number of parliamentarians in Ghana's Law Making Chamber from 275 to 200.

The numbers of seats were increased from 200 to 230 after the December 2000 elections and were 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 told Citi FM, Tuesday.

He said there is need for the country to take a second look at the law that allows the Electoral Commission to be adding on to the number of seats in the chamber as a result of population growth.

“This exercise the Electoral Commission has been doing is not done anywhere and he must be told in point blank language that what he is doing is wrong.

“When we started this exercise the population was about 18 million and every 10 years we keep increasing so when the population reaches 40 million; we shall be having 400 MPs? This is unconscionable,” Mensa-Bonsu fumed.

Members of Parliament, who are currently on break are expected to convene tomorrow, October 1 to discuss some emergency bills.