Cut executive powers – Gyimah-Boadi

Political scientist, Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, has reiterated calls for the revision of the 1992 Constitution to reduce the powers vested in the president and the executive arm of government.

According to the co-founder of the Afrobarometer Network, the current dominance of the executive arm of government over the judiciary and the legislature, is problematic, as it hampers the effectiveness of democracy.

Professor Gyimah-Boadi said this at the 14th “Kronti ne Akwamu” lecture series on the theme: “Making Democracy Work for the people: Reflections on Ghana’s 25-year journey towards democratic development”.

He said: “The Constitution must be reformed to reduce the concentration of state power in the hands of the president, ministers and other presidential appointees. It also needs reforms to strengthen the separation of powers and to reduce the dominance of the executive branch over the other two branches of government, parliament and the judiciary.

“These reforms will restrain presidents and ministers and other executive appointees from acting in arbitrary and capricious manner and causing so much rancour and bitterness by their actions as well as disperse the initiation of policies more broadly within the political society.

“We must do a better job of regulating the executive branch’s use of its own discretionary powers and develop sensible and inclusion-promoting conventions around the use of those powers. This will help reduce arbitrariness, capriciousness and foster inter-branch and inter-party consultation and consensus building.”

He also cautioned government appointees to refrain from carelessly distributing the national cake.

“We must expand the size of the national cake… As we increase the size of the national cake, we must stop sharing it like ‘kelewele’ among a few. We must curb the rapid increase in the rise of politicians who may be described as political entrepreneurs or what Malawian Vice-President calls ‘tenderpreneurs’,” adding that: “They hijack the economic and social dividends that flow from democratic governance.”

Source: Class FM