The Chairman of the Antrak Group of companies, Asuma Banda, is advocating that Ghana fashion her cabinet system of government after the British model. Speaking to The Statesman in an interview, the shipping magnate said the current constitutional arrangement has failed to enhance accountability and responsive governance. He believes the presidential system has some inherent dictatorial tendencies which are not suitable for our fledgling democracy. According to the businessman, "the country's woes stem from a systemic failure of the political structure. "The problem of Africa is not a leadership failure but a systemic one which has not produced the right leadership," he said. He believes the British system, if adopted, would produce the right system for the emergence of better governance and therefore provide better leadership for the people. "How can a vice president who is part of the leadership class complain about leadership failure?" he questioned, in apparent reference to a statement attributed to Vice President Aliu Mahama at the recent African Peer Review meeting in Accra. The failure by the current crop of African leaders to accept responsibility, he says, is part of the exploitation of the vacuum created by the current constitutional system, which allows despots and dictators to operate under the cloak of constitutional rule”. According to the business mogul, if the British model is adopted, the head of government, the prime minister would have a place constituency to nurture as is the case in Britain and would be forced to answer questions from colleagues in parliament on a regular basis. In the UK, the prime minister's weekly question time in parliament provides a channel for accountability and collective responsibility, which according to Alhaji Banda will curb the habit of making unfounded statements by those wielding executive powers. "Africa is not poor; it is Africans who are poor," he said. Alhaji Banda believes this is the result of systemic production of bad leaders in Africa who have risen to power through deceit. "If you have the right system, the right people will emerge," he asserts. The owner of Antrak companies, which operates logistics, haulage, air transport and shipping lines, did not spare presidential speechwriters in his systemic crusade for the British model. The former Convention People's Party bankroller said speechwriters have no place in the parliamentary system of government because the prime minister must be fully up to speed with current issues and if not can therefore not comment on an issue he is not updated on. According to him, the prime minister has respect for his colleagues in parliament and acts swiftly on their position. He cited the case of the recent controversial presidential election in Nigeria, which he believed could have been avoided under the Westminster¬ type of democracy. Alhaji Banda believes the Nigerian President holds too much power, making it easier for the ruling party to exercise undue influence during elections. The practice in Ghana is a hybrid of the presidential and parliamentary systems. It still confers too much executive power on the president, according to Alhaji Banda, who wants to see that power checked. Under the British system the cabinet, the prime minister, and other senior ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's Government. These ministers are drawn from, and are responsible to, parliament. The British system of government has been emulated around the world - a legacy of the British Empire's colonial past, most notably in the other Commonwealth realms. However the United Kingdom is one of the three countries in the world today that does not have a codified constitution (the other two being New Zealand and Israel), relying instead on traditional customs and separate pieces of constitutional law. The prime minister appoints ministers to government posts, usually from senior members of their own party. Most ministers are members of, and answerable to, the House of Commons (particularly at their department's "Question Time"). The remaining ministers are usually from the House of Lords. Ministers do not legally have to come from parliament, but that is the modern day custom, and a prime minister who wants to bring someone into the government from outside parliament will usually first create them a Life Peer, ie give them a non-hereditary seat in the House of Lords. The chief advantage put forward for the parliamentary system of government is the direct accountability of cabinet members to parliament. Culled from The Statesman