A research, conducted by the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, has predicted that about 180 Members of Parliament, risk losing their seats in the forthcoming 2020 elections.
The research, which was purposed to find out the performance of MPs in their various constituencies aside their duties in parliament, noted that only 95 of the 275 MPs stand the chance of retaining their seats.
The research, which was conducted under the theme, “Assessment of 275 Members of Parliament – Perspective from the Constituencies” captures that, only one (1) MP got 90% rating while majority of them got between 30-39%.
Meanwhile five (5) MPs have been rated by their constituents as having less than 10% out of the pass mark of 50%.
Explaining in details what citizen/s make of their MPs going into the 2020 election, Mr. Frempong noted that, 42.4% of the 27,500 respondents answered ‘yes’ to the question ‘Do you want your incumbent MP to contest again in 2020?’.
However, 46.7% say they do not want their incumbent MPs to contest again while 10.9% are indecisive on the matter.
The researchers, Mr. Kaakyira Frempong and Dr. Isaac Owusu Mensah, both of the University of Ghana Political Science Department, in presenting their findings, also noted that National Democratic Congress MPs were performing better than their counterparts from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The report again, mentioned of a huge decline in support for the ruling NPP in three regions where it has the largest number seats.
These regions include the Ashanti, Eastern and Greater Accra.
Speaking on the issue, Member of Parliament for Banda Constituency and Minority First Deputy Whip, Hon. Ahmed Ibrahim, noted that, he “will not just be selfish and keep the findings of the report to himself alone” rather, they will “sit down all MPs together with the researchers to see the way forward in order to address the numerous problems MPs are facing”.
He added that, “the report should not be treated as a normal academic work” because if done so, “…the nation will not benefit, the department will not benefit, even the researchers will not benefit” so “…we must utilize it well”
The research finally made a recommendation to these MPs and all the others to increase their presence in their constituencies and also increase their level of communication to enhance their chance of being part of the eighth parliament which is yet to come.
The research was conducted by the Political Science Department in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
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SOURCE: |universnewsroom.com