The Dean of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Prof. Vladimir Antwi-Danso has observed that the current state of Ghana’s parliament has not been useful.

Many analysts had high expectations after Ghana’s parliament moved from a very sharp majority in the 7th Parliament to a hung one in the 8th Parliament of the fourth republic.

These analysts expected that the hung parliament will enhance the checks and balances on the executive and minimize the house being used as a rubber stamp of the executive due to the sharp differences in numbers.

But speaking at a seminar organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on the theme “Reviewing Ghana’s 1992 Constitution: towards constitutionalism – reflections and refractions,” Professor Antwi-Danso noted the house has not lived up to expectations as a hung parliament.

Prof. Antwi-Danso) said “In our current situation, I was happy to see the hung parliament, but it has not served its purpose because everything has been reduced to partisanship”.

Commenting on the current state of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, he deviated from calls for an amendment of portions of the 1992 constitution. He is calling for an outright rewriting of the entire constitution.

Prof. Antwi-Danso holds the view that a new constitution written by a committee so established will repair any defects that currently plague the country’s democratic dispensation.

“I believe that if we have something new (new constitution), politicians will jump to it to serve a better purpose,” he stressed.