Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Suame Constituency Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has expressed concern about the spate of power struggle, fights and disagreements between elected party executives and elected Presidential candidates and parliamentary candidates in the body polity.
To stem the tide, the seasoned lawmaker has prescribed that the various political parties give the power to appoint national and constituency executives to presidential and parliamentary candidates respectively.
Advancing his argument on Joynews Personality Profile with Nana Ansah Kwao, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs said the Presidential candidate is best able to work with a team he selected and knows. He mentioned example of Mr Paul Afoko who, according to him, got himself elected as NPP National Chairman with his own presidential candidate in mind, for which reason he made efforts to starve the party of cash for the primaries that returned Nana Akufo Addo as flagbearer.
“Look at the national constitution, article 50(8) provides that the national executives of any party shall be chosen, and underline the word chosen, it didn’t say shall be elected”, he said.
“Of course, elections is part of the mechanism of choosing anyway but the constitution is very circumspect in the language it uses. That the national executives of the political party shall be chosen from all the regions of the country. If you look at all the elections that we do, are we able to satisfy that constitutional provision? And nobody is pressing it because the NPP is guilty, the NDC is guilty. All the political parties are guilty”, he explained.
“If the President is given the chance to nominate ministers to run the affairs of the entire country then in his political party, can’t he be given the opportunity, to in consultation with others, maybe appoint these people to help run his elections.
The elections is about him. It’s about the party, but at the center of it is him, his personality. Also every constituency revolves around the member of parliament… The parliamentary candidate. So it should be the same. When he wins he maintains them if they are good”, he said.
This is not the first time this proposal is being made. The NPP considered the idea as part its constitutional amendment at the constituency level but was widely kicked against by party members as a recipe for dictatorship.
Source: citifmonline.com