The African Center for Parliamentary Affairs has said the experienced New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) who lost the bid for their seats Party’s primaries on Saturday will affect the effectiveness of the Legislature.
The Executive Director of the Center, Dr. Rasheed Dramani said the loss is bad news for Ghana’s democracy since their experiences will be needed in the operations of the House.
[contextly_sidebar id=”yfOqi6RIE1VCMMqiWrZiTsASO02wHZ1Y”]Some 24 New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs, many of whom were front benchers, were defeated in the party’s Parliamentary primaries organized over the weekend.
The 24 NPP MPs made up of six women and 19 men MPs include, Dr. Richard Anane, Dr. Afriyie Akoto, Francis Addai-Nimoh, Joe Appiah, Esther Obeng Dapaah, W.O Boafo, among others.
In an interview with Citi News, Dr. Dramani bemoaned the situation saying, it will worsen the already weakened legislature.
He indicated that already, Ghanaians are complaining about the quality of MPs, therefore, kicking out of these experienced Legislators will exacerbate the problem.
Dr. Draman admitted that although change is necessary, the number of experienced MPs who lost is worrying.
“We’ve been complaining about the fact that there is no critical mass of very qualified legislators in our Parliament…I know sometimes we need change, we need some fresh blood and fresh ideas but to see all these heavy weights lose, it’s sad,” he remarked.
Protect experienced MPs
Dr. Dramani recommended that political parties in Ghana must introduce special measures in place to protect seasoned legislators in Parliament.
Making reference to the call made by the Minority leader ahead of the NPP primaries, Dr. Dramani however advised that the party to make sure the measures fall well within the laws of Ghana.
He said: “Just like the issue of the Minority leader when it came up – yes, the party cannot legislate some of these things but they can begin to think about having some internal processes to ensure that some experiences are preserved within Parliament – you can’t just leave it open like this.”
He further indicated that a careful look must be taken to assess the reasons why delegates voted out long-serving MPs.
“I don’t know what was going on in the minds of people in the NPP but I think this is not good news.”
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By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @ osamidan