Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, former Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC), has emphasized the importance of periodic reports from the Council of State to enable the public to assess its impact.
Speaking at the Constitution Day public lecture organized by the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), and One Ghana Movement, Dr. Afari-Gyan suggested that the Council’s advice to institutions should be regularly disclosed to enhance transparency.
He addressed the need for clarification in the Council’s relationship with the president, specifically differentiating between appointments made in consultation with the Council and those made on its advice.
Dr. Afari-Gyan urged for explicit constitutional amendments to prevent the president from disregarding the Council’s advice.
“I think it will help the public gauge the council’s impact if, periodically, it issues a report indicating what advice it has given to which institution.
“In the Council’s relationship with the president, there is one thing in particular that requires clarification. The president appoints some people in consultation with the Council and some on the advice of the Council. What is the difference? Some lawyers say there is no difference at all, and that the president can do as he pleases in both instances. But others say that unlike consultation and the case of advice, the president cannot appoint unless he is so advised.
“If that is indeed the case, it must be made explicit in any amendment to the constitution so that the president cannot ignore the advice of the Council,” Dr. Afari-Gyan said.
Regarding the appointment of Ministers, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan called for a shift from the current system where more ministers are appointed from Parliament by the President as required by Article 78 of the Constitution.
Article 78 states that Ministers of State shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of Parliament from among members of Parliament or persons qualified to be elected as members of Parliament, except that the majority of Ministers of State shall be appointed from among members of Parliament.
However, Dr Afari-Gyan says that a system where the President will appoint more ministers from outside parliament will rather help the legislature in holding the executive accountable.
“I think that a system where Ministers and their deputies are drawn from outside parliament will be better suited to holding the executive in check. Indeed, the requirement to appoint many ministers from Parliament may be an incentive for a president to increase the number of ministers in order to minimize potential troubles with parliament,” he said.
Regarding vote-buying and vote-selling, Dr Afari-Gyan highlighted the threats the practices pose to Ghana’s democracy.
He stated that vote-buying and vote-selling undermine the democracy of the country because it weakens the people from holding the elected leaders accountable through elections.
He said among other things that “Vote-buying, in days gone by, whatever vote-buying or vote-selling there was, took place in secrecy. What we have now looks like an open market where candidates can freely buy votes and citizens can freely sell their votes in broad daylight while we all look on unconcerned.
“But it is a shameful spectacle because vote-buying and vote-selling are unlawful and they undermine two important principles that underpin our democracy. Vote-buying undermines the idea that we choose our leaders out of our free will and vote-selling undermines the idea that we always hold our elected leaders accountable through elections.
“I believe that our democracy is stifled when election results seize to be a true representation of our verdict on the performance of our leaders, we cannot therefore hold them accountable through elections. That is precisely what the election open market portends.”