The Electoral Commission (EC) has commenced processes to create a new parliamentary constituency or constituencies to add to the existing 275.
The EC, through the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, on Tuesday, October 31, 2023, presented a paper to Parliament on the creation of the new constituency or constituencies.
Parliament resumed sitting yesterday, after almost three months of recess, to begin with the Third Meeting in the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament of the 4th Republic.
On the order paper addendum for the first sitting of the Third Meeting, the title read “Representation of the People (parliamentary constituencies) (amendment) instrument 2023.”
Apart from the title that was read for the first time, no other information was given, as per parliamentary procedure.
However, it would be recalled that following the creation of the Oti Region and the Guan District, it became necessary that the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, and Likpe have representation in Parliament.
It is not known whether the new constitutional instrument is mainly for the creation of the Guan Constituency, or if there would be more.
ARTICLE 47
Article 47 stipulates when the EC could review the constituencies in the country, with clause two indicating that no constituency shall fall within more than one region.
Clause 3 also states that the boundaries of each constituency shall be such that the number of inhabitants in the constituency is, as nearly as possible, equal to the population quota.
Clause five says, “The Electoral Commission shall review the division of Ghana into constituencies at intervals of not less than seven years, or within twelve months after the publication of the enumeration figures after the holding of a census of the population of Ghana, whichever is earlier, and may, as a result, alter the constituencies.
“(6) Where the boundaries of a constituency established under this article are altered as a result of a review, the alteration shall come into effect upon the next dissolution of Parliament.
“(7) For the purposes of this article, “population quota” means the number obtained by dividing the number of inhabitants of Ghana by the number of constituencies ‘into which Ghana is divided under this article.”
After the December 2000 general elections, the EC, under the government of President John Agyekum Kufuor, increased the number of constituencies by 30–200 to 230.
Six months to the 2012 general elections in that year, the EC, under the government of President John Dramani Mahama, created 45 new constituencies that brought the number from 230 to the current 275.
SUSPICIONS
There are discussions amongst some parliamentarians from both sides of the political divide with regards to the new CI.
The Minority MPs dread the creation of the new constituencies, which may not be to their benefit as far as winning more seats is concerned, but the majority appears to be comfortable.
The Chronicle understands, albeit unofficially, that the number of seats may move from 275 to 300, a move the legislators are split over in their informal discussions, even before it officially pops up on the floor.
The former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, had hinted about the move by the EC to create new constituencies after the 2021 housing and population census.
The Minority Chief Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim, had also stated the same, but accused the government of putting pressure on the EC to create those 25 new constituencies.
In an interview with TV3 in September 2023, ahead of the limited registration exercise, Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, the Deputy Commissioner of the EC responsible for Corporate Services, also mentioned the creation of the new constituencies, but did not give a figure.
In the interview, he noted that the Guan District was among the areas slated for a new constituency.
“We are in the process of creating some new constituencies, and Guan District is one of them. If not because Parliament is on recess, we should have started the process in parliament,” Dr. Bossman said.
