The presidency has finally received a petition filed by Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Annoh Dombreh, seeking to impeach the Commissioner for the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Lauretta Lamptey.
Frank Annoh-Dompreh petitioned President John Mahama over Ms. Lamptey’s decision to spend about $180,000 on rent alone with a space of three years.
She is presently said to be lodging at a hotel with her two children since her tenancy expired in 2013 and has confirmed paying $456.25 daily.
[contextly_sidebar id=”JbcoliaR05de2cDZgs1fvn85XDEQ8CC8″]When the MP announced he had petitioned President Mahama to initiate the process, to remove the CHRAJ boss, the Deputy Minister for Communications Ato Sarpong told Citi News the office of the president had not received it.
The MP subsequently followed up and said in an interview with Citi News that, “when I heard that, the petition hasn’t been received by Government, I was equally worried…so early this morning [Friday] I was at the presidency again. The petition went through a lady called Doris and she forwarded it to Nartey at the presidency. So Nartey has confirmed that the petition has been received.”
In another follow up interview the Deputy Communications Minister Ato Sarpong said the presidency has finally received the MP’s petition.
The president will have to make a decision on the forwarding of the petition. But the president will have to make a decision as to whether he wants to forward it now or wait until after the special audit to forward it. The president will definitely forward it to the Chief Justice, but that is a decision he has to make, and as you know the President is not in town and he is in touch with the office and I’m sure a decision will be made as to what he will do sometime this week.”
The MP’s petition to the President cited bycitifmonline.com, described the CHRAJ boss’ conduct as “unfortunate,” especially at a time Ghana is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a possible bail out after crippling economic and cash-flow challenges.
What the constitution says
Since the CHRAJ boss has the powers of a Justice of a Superior Court, she can only be removed, according to the dictates of Article 146 of the constitution which states that;
1) A Justice of the Superior Court or Chairman of the Regional Tribunal shall not be removed from office excerpt for stated misbehaviour or incompetence or on ground of inability to perform the functions of his office arising from infirmity of body or mind.
In a related devolopment, following the expiration of an ultimatum given the CHRAJ boss to resign by the Progressive Nationalist Forum, the group says it will now petition President Mahama over the removal of boss Loretta Lamptey from office.
The group had given the beleaguered CHRAJ boss up to last Friday to resign on her own volition following allegations that she had spent one eighty thousand dollars on rent.
Speaking to Citi news, a leading member of the group, Richard Nyamah said they have enough evidence to indict the CHRAJ boss,hence their next step which is to petition the President on the issue.
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By: Nana Boakye-Yiadom/citifmonline.com/Ghana