The Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee, Prof. Henry Kwasi Prempah, is seeking to propose a no-by-election for any vacant seat that may occur in the Parliament of Ghana within 1 year after elections.
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In Facebook post on July 13, 2025, Prof Kwasi Prempeh, who is also the Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), is proposing that political parties whose seats are declared vacant within one 1year after elections should be given the chance to fill the seat through their internal elections instead of a by-election.
What if, instead of a by-election, the party that held the seat was given a right to elect a replacement whenever a vacancy occurs within 12 months of the last election?” Prof Prempeh asked.
His proposal comes in the wake of the sudden demise of the Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Ernest Yaw Kumi, who occupied the seat for only six (6) months, implying there his seat “shall” soon be declared vacant by the Speaker of Parliament.
This declaration of the Akwatia seat as vacant will enable the Electoral Commission to announce a by-election per the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
His suggestion, if it found its way into the reports of the Constitutional Review Committee, will affect a number of constitutional provisions under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, including Article 112 of the 1992 Constitution, which must also be amended.
Article 112(5) outlines the process for filling vacancies that arise in Parliament.
“Whenever a vacancy occurs in Parliament, the Clerk of Parliament shall notify the Electoral Commission in writing within seven days after becoming aware that the vacancy has occurred; and a by-election shall be held within thirty days after the vacancy occurred, except that where the vacancy occurred through the death of a member, the by-election shall be held within sixty days after the occurrence of the vacancy,” it reads.
Article 112(5) adds, “Notwithstanding clause (5) of this article, a by-election shall not be held within three months before the holding of a general election.”
Explaining further, he said:
“For those struggling mightily to get the point of my post, it is simple: Shouldn’t there be some grace period after a general election has been held before we proceed to have a full-fledged by-election to fill an ensuing vacancy? Does it makes sense to hold a full-fledged, all-party by-election to fill the seat of an MP who dies within 24 or 48 days or one week after his or her election or assumption of office as an MP?
We don’t run a full presidential election when the incumbent President dies, because, in that case, we have a VP in waiting–for just that eventuality. Remember, Veeps exist constitutionally only for reasons of presidential succession; they have no other real constitutional function or role.
We could do the same for MPs by having them be elected with alternates who would step in in case the primary MP dies. But this being Ghana, this idea wouldn’t sit well with our cosmology. (But why don’t we think Veeps would also wish their Presidents dead in order to grab their seat). So, in the absence of alternate MPs, why not find another mechanism short of a full-fledged by-election to pick a new MP if a vacancy occurs within a certain “grace period” after the last elections? You can pick your grace period, but 12 months after the last elections seems reasonable to me.”
