Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Dr Rasheed Draman is unhappy with the way experienced Members of Parliament (MPs) are exiting the House.
It is his wish that the MPs are allowed to remain in the House even if they are advancing in age because of their rich experience in parliamentary proceedings.
Dr Draman noted that the exit of the Majority Leader, Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and a few other lawmakers from Parliament will leave a very huge vacuum in the House.
To address the situation he suggested that, “we need to get these MPs to try and transfer their knowledge into the new ones. I think Parliament itself should think seriously about it, because we want our democracy to grow. If you go to the advanced democracies like the US you will have Congressmen who have been in the House for over forty or fifty years, some of them are even wheeled to the House, these are people who are compendiums of knowledge about the workings of the US Congress. I think we want to see some of them in our system.”
Dr Draman said this on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 Tuesday, December 26.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) closed nominations on December 25 for parliamentary aspirants in constituencies where it has sitting Members of Parliament (MPs).
The election is slated for January 27, 2024.
This is the next stage of the party’s quest to have parliamentarians in all the 275 constituencies. It was preceded by the successful hosting of primaries in what the party calls orphan constituencies on December 2.
At the close of nominations on Christmas day, some experienced members of the party did not pick forms. They have thus, voluntarily decided to end their parliamentary careers.
Here is a list of the MP bigwigs in the 8th Parliament who have bowed out.
Osei Kyei- Mensah-Bonsu (Suame Constituency – Ashanti Region). He has been in Parliament since 1997.
Joseph Osei-Owusu (Bekwai Constituency- Ashanti Region). Has been in Parliament since 2009
Samuel Atta Akyea (Abuakwa South Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2009.
Joe Ghartey (Essikado Ketan Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2005.
Kennedy Agyapong (Assin Central Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2001.
Daniel Botwe (Okere Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2009.
Kwasi Amoako-Atta (Atiwa West Constituency). He has been in Parliemnt since 2009.
Dr. Kwaku Afriyie (Sefwi Wiaso Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2017.
Emmanuel Marfo (Oforikrom Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2017.
Benito Owusu-Bio (Atwima Nwabiagya Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2005.
Carlos Ahenkora (Tema West Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2017.
Nana Kwasi Adjei Boateng (New Juabeng North Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2013.
William Owuraku Aidoo (Afigya Kwabre South Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2013.
Johnson Adu (Ahafo Ano South West Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2013.
- Francis Manu-Adabor (Ahafo Ano South-East Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2017.
- Suleman Sanid (Ahafo Ano North Constituency). He has been in Parliament since 2017.
- Kojo Kum (Ahanta West Constituency).He has been in Parliament since 2017.
- Francisca Oteng (Kwabre East Constituency). She has been in Parliament since 2017.
