A United States-based Ghanaian Professor, Kwaku Asare is advocating constitutional and structural reforms to be undertaken by the incoming 9th Parliament which will have the National Democratic Congress (NDC) forming an overwhelming Majority.
He says key priorities should include local government reform, legal education overhaul, judicial reform, a comprehensive code of conduct for public officials, financial management reform, campaign finance regulation, and anti-corruption measures.
Prof Asare argued that the way and manner voters cast their ballot in the 2024 elections in favour of the NDC in both the presidential and parliamentary sends a strong message that the 9th Parliament, which will come into force on January 7, 2025, to implement meaningful structural reforms.
In a post on his Facebook page, Prof Asare said “Four years ago, voters opted for a split parliament; today, they have decisively shifted to a supermajority. This dramatic swing signals deep frustration with the current governance system and serves as both a mandate and a call to action for the 9th Parliament to implement meaningful structural reforms.
“Key priorities should include local government reform, legal education overhaul, judicial reform, a comprehensive code of conduct for public officials, financial management reform, campaign finance regulation, and anti-corruption measures.
“Meanwhile, [we] urge the 8th Parliament to conclude its work with urgency by passing the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2021 and forwarding it to the President for assent without delay.”
In a similar statement, Convener of the Fix the Country Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, also told President-elect John Dramani Mahama that he will have no excuses to fail the people of Ghana following the historic victory in the 2024 general elections.
In his view, given that Mr Mahama has no reelection concerns, this is time for him to implement all the constitutional reforms to improve Ghana’s democracy.
In a post on his Facebook page, he said “Mahama got 56 percent of the popular vote. 14 out of 16 regions. 68 percent of the military vote. And 80 percent of the police vote. Over 2/3rds majority in Parliament. A President who is a one-term president and so has no reelection concerns. A person who has presidential experience; and so can hit the ground running from day 1.
“Listen, it took 32 years, 8 regular election cycles and 2 run-off elections, for us to get here. We may likely never be here again. So hear me when I say, this is a mandate for Constitutional Reform! This is a mandate for probity and accountability if I ever saw one. A mandate to build a legacy no one has ever been able to build, apart from Nkrumah.
“If the trust of the Ghanaian voter is wasted, I am not sure we can ever ever again, get Ghana anywhere close to its vision. We are prepared to give the new President a mandate from the streets too. Bigger than Jerry got in ‘ 79. All the Ghanaian has to give, we have given! There can be no excuses this time. Wallahi, Only the NDC can sabotage the NDC at this rate.”
Meanwhile, Mr John Dramani Mahama has told the United Nations (UN) that his party, the National Democratic Congress which has given birth to the yet-to-be sworn-in administration made several promises during the campaign season.
However, he said, they will need to look at the reality of sitting together and seeing what the way forward is.
In a meeting with United Nations Resident Coordinator Charles Abani on Tuesday, December 11, he said “So we look forward to working with you. Looking at the existing programmes we need to tweak them to meet the realities of today.
“I believe we have had discussions with the World Bank and the IMF already and we look to an early engagement so that we can continue to be on the wavelength. Of course in the campaign several promises were made, we need to look at what the reality is in terms of sitting together and seeing what the way forward is. Of course one of our main concerns is the issue of the debt repayments, we need to see how we can smooth them so that we don’t default again which will be more catastrophic than that currently defaulting.”
The UN Boss had said “Our real purpose here is to congratulate you for your victory to thank you for the way you led your party to a successful, peaceful election year in Ghana particularly as the international community had its eyes on Ghana to continue to hold up the torch of Ghana.
“Your ascension to office also brings you the first female vice president ever to Ghana, congratulations on that success. This is to assure you that UN stands fully with you and fully with Ghana, we know your presidency is just about to unfold, I can assure you of our collaboration. thank you.”
Responding to him, Mr Mahama further said Ghana and the UN have had a long-standing relationship. He expressed the will to deepen this relationship.
“I really appreciate it. Ghana has long-standing relations with all the agencies under the UN and having been president before I know the work we did together. we need you more than ever before because of the crisis we still face or going through. I have had the opportunity to meet some of you even during the campaign, I have expressed our want for us to work even closer together to see how we can put our Ghana back on its feet. Of course, we all know that Ghana is very important in the geopolitics of West Africa and Africa in terms of upholding democracy and being the model of peace and security, it is something that we want to restore as quickly as possible
“So we look forward to working with you. Looking at the existing programmes we need to tweak them to meet the realities of today. I believe we have had discussions with the World Bank and the IMF already and we look to an early engagement so that we can continue to be on the wavelength. Of course in the campaign several promises were made, we need to look at what the reality is in terms of sitting together and seeing what the way forward is. Of course one of our main concerns is the issue of the debt repayments, we need to see how we can smooth them so that we don’t default again which will be more catastrophic than that currently defaulting,” he said.
He added “we know that in the last five years, the rainfall pattern was very erratic and so we are anticipating that there is going to be some problems with the availability of food and so, how we are able to quicken support to ameliorate the situation is something that we will like to work on with all the other agencies, UNICEF, UNHCR , we are happy to continue to engage to see how we can uplift the cooperation and the work that we do together.
“I don’t kid myself that it is going to be an easy task, it is going to be quite tough. I anticipated that we were going to win but I didn’t anticipate the margin by which we were going to win , that is an indication that Ghanaians have a very high expectations and so in managing that expectation, I am trying to work as quickly as possible to meet those expectations.”
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