The immediate past Tain District Chief Executive (DCE), Charity Akua Foriwaa Dwommoh, has suggested that the Council of State be transformed into an Upper House of the Parliament of Ghana.

According to him, the move will promote governance and enhance development in the country.

She said when the Council becomes an Upper House, it will gain some powers to play more than its current advisory role it is playing.

She stated that the suggestion to make the Council of State an Upper House of Parliament must be part of the constitutional review since nobody, for now, including the President and Parliament, can make that change except through a constitutional amendment.

Madam Dwommoh suggested this in an exclusive interview with JoyNews at Sunyani in the Bono region, following an earlier proposal by former President John Agyekum Kufuor to create an Upper Chamber of Parliament to replace the Council of State.

She said unless there is a constitutional amendment, the Council of State will remain an advisory body with no teeth to bite because the President is not obligated to accept their counsel.

She described uninformed calls by sections of the public for the Council to be scrapped because it is no longer fit for purpose.

“The country should create a second chamber, as is the case in other jurisdictions, which should be composed of diverse groups of individuals with diverse experiences to help stabilise the nation for progress,” Madam Dwommoh said.

She said the composition of the Upper House should not be based only on an elective system but rather on institutional representation in addition to elective members.

“We can have what most countries have now, such as the Lower Chamber and the Upper Chamber.

Let us transform the Council of State into an Upper House, which requires constitutional changes to ensure that we do not make it a political talk chamber,” she stressed.

Madam Dwommoh noted that the composition of the Upper House should have representatives from professional bodies such as the Ghana Bar Association, the Ghana Institution of Engineers, and the Ghana Medical Association, among others, with some elected members or appointees.

She explained that the current Council of State consists of experienced individuals from diverse backgrounds and had served its purpose, as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution, with its limitation being that it has no powers to do much.

She said that was the reason some eminent citizens, including former President Kufuor, have called for the Council to be transformed into an Upper Chamber, as pertained in other jurisdictions.

While admitting that the Upper Chamber might be a financial constraint on the nation, Madam Dwommoh noted that it will eventually produce quality and serve the tenets of good governance.

“The difference that body will make in governance will be outstanding; I am not saying it should be so powerful to deny the Lower House its democratic purpose, nor the President the necessary authority to govern, using the executive agencies effectively,” she added.