The Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has laid a new Constitutional Instrument on behalf of the Electoral Commission of Ghana for the creation of a new constituency to be known as the Guan constituency in the Oti Region.
The Representation of the People (Parliamentary Constituencies) (Amendment) Instrument, 2023, which was laid before Parliament on Tuesday, October 31, 2023, is to ensure equitable political representation of the people in the country.
The people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, and Likpe (SALL) traditional areas would now have the opportunity to vote for their own Member of Parliament in the 2024 general elections after the instrument has gone through the mandatory 21 days in Parliament which should mature before the House rises for the upcoming Yuletide.
Referring the Electoral Commission’s C.I. to the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation after its presentation on the Floor of the House, the Rt. Hon. Speaker, Alban Sumana Bagbin, said this instrument will cure the cardinal sin the House committed against the people before the 2020 elections.
The people from the SALL area were prevented from voting in the 2020 Parliamentary election because the Electoral Commission failed to present a C.I. to Parliament on time ahead of the election.
The total number of Parliamentary seats to be contested in the 2024 election would increase by one from the current 275 to 276. However, there were rumors that the Electoral Commission was seeking to create about 25 new constituencies to push the seats to 300.
But a Deputy Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Bossman Asare, has denied any intentions by the E.C. to create any additional constituencies now apart from the Guan constituency.
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
