Review Committee Proposes Ban on MPs Serving as Ministers

The Constitutional Review Committee has recommended an amendment to Article 78(1) of the 1992 Constitution to bar Members of Parliament from being appointed as Ministers of State, Deputy Ministers, or Regional Ministers.

The proposal was disclosed by the Chairman of the Committee, Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, during the presentation of the Committee’s report to President John Dramani Mahama at the Presidency in Accra.

The Committee, inaugurated by President Mahama on January 19, took 11 months to complete its work.

Prof. Prempeh explained that a key focus of the review was the nature of the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature, particularly concerns about the current hybrid system where MPs also serve in the Executive.

“There has been a lot of talk around the separation of the two. We have looked at the evidence,” he said. “We know that in Britain and other places, the entire executive comes from the legislature, and it works for them. But when we looked at our own context, it does appear that it is not working quite well here.”

He noted that after more than 30 years of practice, the Committee believes Ghana should move away from the hybrid system and adopt a clearer separation of powers.

According to him, the proposal would allow Parliament to focus fully on its core responsibilities of legislation, oversight and representation, while enabling the Executive to concentrate on governance and policy implementation.

Receiving the report, President Mahama commended the Committee for its work and announced that a Constitutional Review Implementation Committee would be established early next year to begin the next phase of the process.