[ad_1]
The balance of power favors the executive in a way that undermines constitutionalism. Nevertheless, after more than 27 years of activity, Professor Gyampo baderted that the 1992 Constitution was a weak mechanism to curb the exercise of power.
Professor Gyampo said at a conference between colleges on the 1992 constitution and constitutionalism in Ghana, organized by the College of Humanities of the University of Ghana.
The event was chaired by Professor Samuel Agyei-Mensah, Vice President of the College of Humanities, and brought together over 600 participants including professors and students from the College of Humanities, political party representatives, civil society actors and media professionals.
Professor Gyampo, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for European Studies of the University of Ghana, stated that the theory of constitutionalism posited deliberate legal limitations on the powers and authority of those who exercised the fiduciary trust of the people.
He argued that the idea of constitutionalism was solely to control or impede the exercise of power in order to avoid dictatorship and abuse.
Although Professor Gyampo acknowledged that one of the mechanisms for promoting constitutionalism was the existence of a constitution, it did not take long to emphasize the fact that the mere existence of A constitution does not necessarily guarantee constitutionalism as constitutions.
He stated that the 1992 Constitution did not include the necessary compensatory mechanisms to control the exercise of power, stressing that the Constitution was a neo-presidential arrangement combining certain characteristics of the presidential and British systems of government.
Having modeled three different constitutions inspired by the two systems since 1960, the preference for constitutional hybridity appeared in 1992.
Professor Gyampo, said the president, held the overwhelming power of nomination and favoritism and named "practically everyone" in Ghana.
He added that the president had a say in appointing officials that he did not name directly. "The Government of Ghana is its government and composed of ministers, heads of boards of directors, agencies, commissions, mayors and members of the state council, it is the government of Ghana. "appointing authority".
In addition to being the commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, Fountain of Honor and Mercy, the president, according to Professor Gyampo, was also behind all legislation in Ghana and all the laws pbaded by Parliament came from the Presidency.
According to Professor Gyampo, Article 108, which gave the President the exclusive right to submit to Parliament bills with financial implications, was not only contrary to Parliament's constitutional control over the purse, but also made the President the only legislator in Ghana, given the fact that "every bill has financial implications".
Prof. Gyampo stated that this had stifled legislative initiative, conferred the power to legislate solely on the executive branch, and also reflected the absence of the draft law on Members of Parliament since 1992.
According to the hybrid agreement, the president was required to appoint a majority of his ministers from among the members of Parliament and this power of appointment was exercised to the detriment of the legislature.
"This arrangement weakens the control role of parliament and leaves the executive unimpeded in the sense that parliamentarians, who are also ministers, can not interrogate their ministerial colleagues properly because they sit in the same government. .
"Parliamentarians, who are also ministers, have collective responsibility for all government decisions and therefore can not criticize the government in parliament," he said.
He added that few members of Parliament who were not ministers also joined their colleagues in praising the government in order to benefit from a ministerial appointment.
"This practice not only undermines constitutionalism, but also weakens the representative role of MPs and sacrifices the particular interest of their constituents for that of the government in power," he said.
According to Professor Gyampo, it is difficult for MPs who are also ministers to find time to deal with parliamentary affairs; "These MPs are almost always absent from Parliament because of Cabinet meetings, travel, and the formulation and execution of departmental policies."
In this respect, they can not attend the meetings of the committees that constitute "parliament workshops".
He added that the power of the president to surreptitiously name the Speaker of Parliament, the majority leader, the clerks and members of certain parliamentary committees, as well as the creation of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs were hypocritical provisions and practices that made Parliament subordinate to the President. undermined the controls of the first on the last one.
[ad_2]
Source link
