| General News
[ 2014-12-19 ]
Carpet-crossing MPs must keep their seats – Law Prof Fullbright Law Professor, John Griffiths has said
Ghana’s constitutional provisions, which require
that Members of Parliament vacate their seats when
they go independent or floor-cross while serving
as Legislators, give political parties unmerited
control over MPs.
Article 97 (1) (g) of the 1992 Constitution states
that an MP shall vacate his seat “if he leaves
the party of which he was a member at the time of
his election to Parliament to join another party
or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent
member.”
Article 97 (1) (h) also stipulates that a Member
of Parliament must vacate his seat “if he was
elected a Member of Parliament as an independent
candidate and joins a political party.
Clause (2) of that article, however, states that:
“Notwithstanding paragraph (g) of clause (1) of
this article, a merger of parties at the national
level sanctioned by the parties' Constitutions or
membership of a coalition government of which his
original party forms part, shall not affect the
status of any Member of Parliament.”
The first two provisions, in Prof Griffith’s
view, “unnecessarily increase the power over
Members of parliament, by the political
parties.”
Speaking at a public forum organised by the
Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) on the
“role of constitutional reforms in consolidating
peace, stability and national cohesion,” the
former University of Gronigen Professor in The
Netherlands said: “I don’t see why a Member of
Parliament should be prohibited – if in good
conscience, he thinks it’s the only thing he can
do – from saying: ‘I can’t any longer, in
good conscience, agree with what the rest of the
party wants to do.”
“I think if one seriously wants to reduce the
grip of political parties on the political
process, it might be a good idea to reconsider the
desirability of that provision,” he advised at
the forum chaired by Prof Akilagkpa Sawyerr, Vice
President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Science
(GAAS).
Other Speakers at the forum include Emeritus Prof
S O Gyandoh Jnr, Senior Partner, Gyandoh Asmah &
Co, and Emeritus Prof Kwame A. Ninsin,
Scholar-in-Residence, IDEG.
Source - Starrfmonline
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