MPs serving as ministers is where the 1992 Constitution erred – Sam Okudzeto

A member of the Council of State, Sam Okudzeto, has suggested that the framers of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana got it wrong when they stated that Members of Parliament (MPs) could simultaneously serve as ministers of state.

According to him, MPs working at the same time as ministers of state make them ineffective in their main duty of representing their constituents.

“I think that the error we made was that we were trying to mix the Westminster system of government and the presidential system of government. That is the mistake that we made in our constitutional process.

“Being in parliament is a serious business. How on earth can you run a ministry as a minister and at the same time find time to represent your people in Parliament? You can’t.

“In fact, if you check the assembly roster, you will find out that there are many ministers who seldom appear in Parliament and yet that is the purpose for being elected as MPs. They were not elected to become ministers, they were elected to become MPs to represent the people,” he said in a TV3 interview monitored by GhanaWeb.

He proposed that the section of the constitution that allows MPs to serve as ministers be reviewed so legislators could not be part of the executive branch of the government.

The member of the Council of State also said that the current Parliament has become too partisan, with MPs pursuing the interests of their political parties rather than those of the nation and their constituents.