The outcome of the December 7, 2024 polls although largely expected by Ghanaians came as a surprise, and the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) margin of victory as at now, is the biggest in the nation’s political history.
Not only that, the NDC managed to sweep a large number of seats in parliament, leaving very few seats for the New Patriotic Party.
The 9th parliament is said to be a rubber stamp one unlike the 8th parliament which was a hung one.
In Ghana, parliament is made up of 275 MPs representing various constituencies. These MPs come from various political parties with some being independent candidates.
In the 8th parliament, the ruling NPP had a total of 137 seats, with the NDC also having 137 seats with one independent candidate in parliament.
However, the independent candidate, re-joined the ranks of the NPP, bringing the number of MPs in the NPP fold to 137.
With this number in the 8th parliament, decision making was a tussle, making it difficult for bills to be passed.
Ghana’s Parliament requires a third of MPs to form a quorum during sitting. However, when it comes to decision making, parliament requires half of MPs to take a decision.
In this case, parliament requires 137.5 (because we don’t a half of a person, it is rounded to 138) MPs to take a decision.
Going into the 9th parliament, the NDC has an overwhelming number of 187 MPs in their corner, giving them an absolute majority in the next parliament.
This means president-elect, John Dramani Mahama will easily have bills passed and received votes in his favor.
With this said, it is expected that the John Dramani Mahama administration will make some massive changes in various state institutions.
The Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo was nominated to the Supreme Court in November 2019 and received parliamentary approval in December 2019.
She was sworn in on 17 December 2019. She was nominated to the office of Chief Justice in April 2023 to replace Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah who retired as Chief Justice on May 24, 2023 and sworn into office as the 15th Chief Justice of Ghana on 12th June 2023.
The Chief Justice is said to be in bed with the NPP and it is highly probable that she will be replaced in the next John Dramani Mahama administration.
The Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Jean Adukwei Mensa was appointed as the Chairperson of the Commission on 23 July 2018.
She was nominated by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo to take over the chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) from her predecessor, Charlotte Osei.
Jean Mensah and her deputies are also expected to be replaced by the John Dramani Mahama administration as they have also been accused to being in bed with the NPP, and are believed to have sabotaged Mr. Mahama and the NDC in previous elections.
The NDC becoming a majority in parliament with a significant number of MPs can make decisions without necessarily needing the vote of any NPP MPs in the 9th parliament.
Although this serves as a great advantage to the NDC, will it benefit Ghanaians or Ghanaians will suffer for it? Only time will tell.
