Kofi Bentil, a private legal practitioner has observed that the 1992 Constitution must be amended to take out the need for by-elections.
He explained that the amendment must be done so that the party which holds the parliamentary seat appoints a replacement if a Member of Parliament (MP) was removed.
“By-elections only waste time and resources so the party which holds the parliamentary seat should appoint a replacement if a Member of Parliament is removed and they are also wasteful, rancorous, dangerous and of negative overall value,” Mr Bentil stressed.
He insisted that the 1992 Constitution must be amended for the party which held the parliamentary seat to appoint a replacement of an MP is removed and until then the parties could agree not to contest to save money, resources, logistics and stress.
Mr Bentil, who is also the Vice President of IMANI Africa’s comments come after a Court of Appeal in Cape Coast on March 22, 2022 struck out the appeal by James Gyekye Quayson, MP for Assin North Constituency in the Central Region for non-compliance with court procedures.
He filed an appeal challenging a High Court ruling that declared a new parliamentary elections should be organised in the constituency and the presiding judge, Justice Charity Larbi, ruled that Mr Quayson failed to comply with the court’s directives to submit his written submission within a stipulated time.
According to Mr Bentil, the parties may decide not to agree and contest and would have to go through pointless pain, rancorous, waste of funds and logistics which could affect the fortunes of the parities depending on the investment towards the by-elections.
“Till then, the parties can agree not to contest so we can save the money and stress however, they would not agree so we will go through the pointless pain, waste of resources and logistics each time there is a by-election,” Mr Bentil decried. -3news.com
