By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
A pollster and Executive Director of Global InfoAnalytics, Mussa Dankwah, is calling for a Constitutional amendment on Ministerial appointments by President John Mahama.
He has therefore appealed to Ghanaians especially the youth groups in the various constituencies to hasting slowly when their Member of Parliament (MP) or a preferred candidate is not appointed for a Ministerial position.
According to him, per the current status quo in the 1992 Constitution, no MP has the right to be appointed a minister or is entitled to be appointed to any position for that matter.
He is thus urging community members to manage their disappointment when their preferred MP is not appointed as a Minister.
Mr. Dankwa made the call concerning an incident where a group of agitated youth of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ho Central Constituency went on a rampage and set the constituency office ablaze and also in Bole where some youth hit the streets to show their displeasure and disappointments.
Though members of the group are yet to be identified, their actions are believed to be connected to growing discontent among party members over the failure of President John Dramani Mahama to make an appointment from the constituency.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Dankwah said “There is a price to pay for having nearly 2/3 majority of MPs. There are now more qualified persons that could be appointed making it virtually impossible for others to make it.
Appointments are not based on a constituency basis, the people of Ho Central and Bole must know. It is not about your MP and no MP has the right to be appointed a minister or entitled to be appointed to any position for that matter.
When the constitution is eventually changed, this nonsense will stop. An MP will be a lawmaker and ministers will be ministers. Changes in the constitution will certainly affect the behaviour of Ghanaians, so it is a must,” he noted.
According to eyewitnesses, several office items including two computers, office files and documents, and furniture among others were burnt in the attack that occurred on Monday, January 21, 2025.
Again, car tyres were also burnt in front of the party office and on the Ho Market road right in front of the party office obstructing traffic flow until personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service arrived to douse the fire.
Speaking in an interview with the media after the incident, the Ho Constituency Deputy Secretary, Mr. Theophilus Adzanku, assured that the party will fish out the individuals who undertook such baseless activities to book and also ensure that they are dealt with accordingly.
He condemned the incident and called for calm among party members while urging them to employ civil means to get their concerns addressed if any.
