The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, has called for separate dates for presidential and parliamentary elections, as is done in the US. That, he said, would reinforce the decoupling of the two arms of government which would underscore the fact that Parliament is not synonymous with the Executive. Prof. Oquaye was speaking on the topic: “The hybrid constitution and its attendant difficulties” at a roundtable discussion in Accra. The discussion was organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs to discuss what areas of the Constitution needed to be reviewed to suit Ghanaians. Prof. Oquaye said the dates for the parliamentary and presidential elections had an effect on parliamentary autonomy and added that Ghana could adopt the US system where parliamentary elections were held two years after every presidential election. That way, he said, a president could meet a parliament with the opposition in the majority who would not bow to the whims and caprices of the executive but carry out its duties according to the dictates of its members. Prof. Oquaye called for a change of the hybrid system of government currently being practised by the country, saying it had weakened Parliament and undermined the age-long doctrine of separation of powers. He also advocated a primary role for Members of Parliament in local government, a reduction in the powers of the Regional Coordinating Councils, election of District and Municipal Chief Executives and the holding of such elections' two years from national elections. He said the hybrid system had weakened the Legislature vis-à-vis the Executive, adding that the article in the constitution which required the President to appoint majority of his ministers from Parliament had, in the past 17 years, shown clearly that that power of appointment had inured to the disc advantage of the Legislature. “In the first place; the oversight role of Parliament is undermined. MPs who are also ministers cannot ask colleague ministers questions on the floor of the House as expected Notably, the minister/MPs lead, control, direct and influence the other MPs on the majority side”, he said. “Furthermore, ministers owe collective responsibility for all government decisions and cannot, therefore, criticise the government on the floor of the House”, he added. Secondly, Prof. Oquaye said, it had become the norm that Majority-side MPs looked up to the President for ministerial appointments, adding that the successful and leading MPs are perceived as those who catch the eye of the President and are made ministers and not those who perform well as legislators. “Indeed, once appointed, a minister moves to the front benches and he or she moves back when he or she loses the ministerial position. Hence psychologically and in effect, Executive dominance is pervasive because of the appointment system”, he said. “In the light of the above, there is very little ambition for legislators to develop and achieve great heights in the manner known in the US presidential system. If we should develop our legislators in the manner expected in the modem state; if we should develop a crop of men and women devoted to parliamentary career, not persons seeking a conduit to become ministers, the system must change,” he added. Prof. Oquaye said when a person served as MP and a minister simultaneously, one position must suffer and it was a truism that the duties of Parliament suffered. He added that in terms of attendance, concentration, contribution, questions and many more, the person's time clashed with cabinet meetings, travel, ministerial policy formulation and execution. He said the weakening of the legislature had created problems even for the judiciary, adding that a hybrid constitution with a weak parliament controlled by the executive would approve any number of judges appointed by the President and lack the courage to act. “The size and composition of the Supreme Court raises issues of packing of the court and the manipulation of composition in such a way that the government in effect may become a judge in its own• case,” he added. A Senior Fellow at the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA), Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, also agreed that Parliament needed strengthening and complete divorce from the Executive, adding that preferably, only technocrats should be made ministers. “The situation where most Ministers are appointed from Parliament does not give enough credence to the principle of separation of powers. Another positive aspect of this view is that it would drive away home-boyism, partisanship; nepotism and mediocrity in the appointment of ministers and allow private members to initiate laws. On local government, he said DCEs and MCEs needed to be elected and not appointed and Assembly. Members elected on non-party lines. With regard to the Electoral Commission, Dr Antwi-Danso said it needed to be completely autonomous and empowered to seek its own sources of funding, adding that a certain percentage of revenue needed to be set aside for it. Membership of the commission, he added, should be by merit and people who applied needed to be vetted by Parliament. “Appointment of heads of public institutions, namely the Police, National Security, Fire Service, the judiciary and the Customs Excise and Preventive Service must be by merit and they should be vetted by parliament”, he said. Dr Antwi-Danso added: “What is being advocated here may seem ignominiously radical, but if constitutions are amended or written based on past experiences, current imperatives, and future hopes, as we established earlier, then what is being advocated are based on the historical path we have trodden so far with our 1992 Constitution, today's imperative and a future hope that our democracy needs to ascend the crystallisation ladder.” Source: Daily Graphic