Former Majority Leader of Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has criticised the practice of appointing ministers based on political considerations instead of professional competence, warning that the trend undermines effective governance.
In an exclusive interview on the AM Show on Joy News, the veteran lawmaker argued that frequent reshuffling of ministers across unrelated sectors disrupts policy continuity and weakens performance.
According to him, ministers are often assigned to portfolios without adequate assessment of their expertise, only to be moved to entirely different sectors within a short period.
“You appoint a minister to a sector, interrogate that person for his proficiency in that field, and then one year later, he’s shuffled out and taken to another sector. Nobody knows his proficiency in agriculture, for instance. We are inflicting this on ourselves,” he stated.
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also expressed concern over what he described as a growing perception among some Members of Parliament that legislative service is merely a pathway to ministerial appointment.
“Many people are coming to Parliament now to use Parliament as a springboard to be made ministers. If he’s not made a minister, more or less, he withdraws from Parliament. And it’s not good for the evolution and development of Parliament,” he said.
He warned that such attitudes weaken parliamentary oversight and hinder the institution’s long-term growth.
The former Majority Leader advocated a clear separation between parliamentary roles and ministerial appointments. He argued that delinking the two would enable MPs to concentrate fully on their legislative and oversight responsibilities, while allowing ministers to be selected strictly on the basis of technical knowledge and sector-specific competence.
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu maintained that reforming the current system would strengthen both the Executive and the Legislature, ultimately improving governance outcomes.
