Martin Kpebu calls for repeal of Article 78 to end MPs’ ministerial appointments

Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has urged the repeal of Section 1 of Article 78 of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which mandates that the president appoint the majority of ministers from Parliament. Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, October 3, Kpebu emphasized the need for significant constitutional reforms, stating that the “constitution needs a lot of heavy substantial amendments.”

Kpebu alleged that parliamentarians who double as ministers exploit their positions to secure funds from private institutions by awarding them government contracts. According to him, ministers often receive a cut, amounting to 10% or more, from state payments to contractors.

He argued that this financial incentive drives ruling party MPs to seek ministerial appointments to amass personal wealth. “I hear nowadays it is becoming very clear that they don’t like deputy ministerial appointments because a deputy minister does not have much of a voice, doesn’t get much, right, so everybody wants to be a minister because that is where when you award contracts, you will get 10% or more,” Kpebu remarked.

He further explained, “The members of Parliament go to Parliament in the hope of being appointed ministers of state because that is where they will make money. So, this is the one we want to amend so that an MP cannot be a minister.”

Kpebu also called for parliamentarians to be excluded from serving on governing boards of state institutions. He claimed that MPs in such roles act as intermediaries for private companies vying for contracts from the government. “Some of the MPs, when they make them chairman of, let’s say, National Petroleum Authority, just [as] board member alone, they become lobbyists for these institutions, and that’s how they make money,” he said.

In light of these concerns, Kpebu reiterated his call for the law to be repealed as part of broader constitutional reforms.