Prof. Anthony Mawuli Sallar: Does Ghana really need additional 25 MPs, for what and at what cost? (Part 1)

On September 11, 2023 there was a news item entitled “EC to create new constituencies for 2024 election-Dr Bossman reveals” .(https://expressnewsghana.com/2023/09/11/ectocreatenewconstituenciesfor2024 ) based on a TV3 interview by Deputy Commissioner of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Eric Bossman Asare.

I chuckled and thought it might be fake news. Who, I thought would be deluded into adding huge expenditure to the public purse after the Nana Addo led NPP government took us to IMF with over bloated public expenditure?

The president remains adamant and still maintains so many ministers, so many CEOs and 2 or 3 deputies in some organisations: Agric., NADMO etc. The government payroll is top heavy and even despite going to IMF it still remains so.

One begins to wonder whether this government’s excessive expenditure is perpetuated because our government could care less about the sufferings of its citizens or could not care about the nature of the economy it wants to leave for future generations.

I read the article and to my utter disgust I read that the political EC was going to add 25 more seats to the current 275 !!!!!

I could not believe that the President’s politically activist appointed members of the EC would try to further sink its tarnished image after its gamesmanship of the 2020 elections again (weaponizing some constituencies by bringing military personnel to some areas especially Volta Region during registration and voting, 4 or 5 different declaration of Presidential results by the EC chairperson, Jean Adukwei Mensah). One would have thought the EC would take positive steps to redeem its sinking image from the abyss but it looks like we in for another repeat.

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