Chairman of the National Economic Dialogue, Dr. Ishmael Yamson has suggested a review of the 1992 constitution to provide some checks and balances on appointments by the President.
Dr. Yamson believes that a chunk of Ghana’s economic crisis stems from corruption which he said has its roots in the constitution.
Speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues with Keminni Amanor on Sunday March 8, Dr. Yamson expressed worry over a growing phenomenon where appointments are given to political appointees not based on merit but party interest.
In explaining his point, he cited the constitutional power given to the President to make appointments which he said needs checks and balances to ensure that appointments are not given to party loyalists but people with merits and maximum qualification.
Dr. Yamson added that political considerations must not take precedent over a merit required to do a job.
“For me, the constitution needs checks and balances strong enough to ensure that even though the President will have the power to appoint everybody, that’s one example only there are checks and balances to ensure that those people’s backgrounds are clearly checked then we are very sure.
“And even the President himself should ensure that the people that he is appointing are people who share his values, his behaviour and not because he contributed to the election or comes from this area and if we don’t appoint him, we will lose votes or people will leave our party,” Dr. Yamson stated.
He lamented that the issue of corruption, economic challenges and other problems are due to the fact that appointments have been overly emphasised on party interest.
“If you give one person the power to appoint every public official, that person with enormous authority and if that person hasn’t got a nationalist mindset, then his appointments are not going to be reflected by what is required to do the job. These days I talk about having lost the sense of meritocracy.
“Appointing people who are meant to be in certain positions and they are driven by party interest, personal interest, that’s where the problem starts because leadership for me is everything.”
Source:
3news.com
Source link
