We need Upper Chamber for law making — CDD-Ghana fellow

A senior fellow of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr Hene Aku Kwapong, has stressed the need for the ongoing constitutional reform to consider a Senior House of Parliament to bolster the law-making process to consolidate the country’s democracy.

He said the proposed arrangement, which should merge the National House of Chiefs and the Council of State, would provide technical review, strategic advice and long-term perspective for sustainable development.

The US-based CDD-Ghana fellow said the Senior House would comprise renowned statesmen, experts in various sectors of the economy, traditional rulers, and regional representatives whose duty would be to provide expert knowledge to enrich the law-making process.

For instance, he explained that in terms of law making, Parliament would play its traditional role of drafting and passing bills while the Senior House would review the draft bills from Parliament and make recommendations to the House.

"Basically, the law-making process will be such that Parliament drafts the bill and sends it to the Senior House to review, propose recommendations, or delay the process for six months, and sends it back to Parliament to consider the recommendations and make the final decision," he said.

Lecture

Dr Kwapong made that proposal in a lecture delivered at the CDD-Ghana Conference Centre in Accra yesterday.

The lecture was on the theme: "Beyond the text: making Ghana's constitution deliver democracy."

The lecture brought together policy makers, governance experts, civil society organisations (CSOs) and members of the public.

Key personalities at the lecture were the Minority Leader and Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin; a Deputy Spokesperson at the Presidency, Shamima Muslim; and the Executive Director of CDD-Ghana, Prof. H. Kwasi Prempeh, who is also the Chairperson of the Constitution Review Committee.

Justification

Making a justification for the Senior House, he said that approach was necessary because complex challenges such as climate change, economic diversification, and health care required specialised knowledge.

"Parliament represents the people but cannot master every technical field," he said.

Again, he said the Senior House approach would bring about a merit-based upper chamber that complemented Parliament with seasoned traditional leaders, national experts and regional voices.

"Today, we have the National House of Chiefs and the Council of State, which are all advisory bodies.

Once you put it together as one body, you are able to have one place where experts, wisdom and traditional knowledge come together to support the democratic process," he said.

He also called for the reintroduction of the town and local council system to enhance decentralisation.

Apt theme

A Deputy Spokesperson at the Presidency, Ms Muslim, who delivered a speech on behalf of the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, described the theme of the lecture as apt and timely.

She said the theme spoke directly to the sustenance of the country’s fledgling democracy and underscored the need to move beyond rhetoric to ensure that the principles enshrined in the constitution were made to work to the benefit of citizens.

Mr Debrah's speech stressed that the reset agenda of the President was a call to move beyond the text to make reforms to the gaps in the constitution, which was why a constitution review committee had been set up for that purpose.

"Until the constitution review process is completed, we must continue to commit to the provisions of the 1992 constitution," he said.

Shake-up

For his part, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the country needed a shake-up in terms of mindset and attitude to consolidate democratic governance.

He stressed the need for stronger accountability systems to ensure that people take responsibility for their actions.

"Let us get a culture of collective responsibility. Citizens think politicians are stealing money and amassing wealth while politicians also blame citizens for not being responsible for their actions," he said.