Acting president of Ghana, Doe Adjaho assumed office today, but refused to take the mandatory constitutional oath of office.
As per Ghana’s Constitution, in the absence of the President and his Vice, the Speaker of Parliament is sworn-in as the acting president.
Currently President John Dramani Mahama who doubles as the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is in Burkina Faso to ensure that peace prevail in the country after days of political unrest.
[contextly_sidebar id=”ST3lyHN41Ke5El8Gp0w4Z2SzdxEnAp95″]His Vice, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur is also out of the country on an official assignment to India.
Although, the Speaker of Parliament, Doe Adjaho has officially taken over as president, he was not sworn in, even though the Chief Justice, Georgina Wood was in Parliament on Wednesday for the ceremony.
Citi News’ Umaru Sanda who was in Parliament, reported that “what we know per precedence [is that] the president will write to Parliament which he did and he directed that the speaker of Parliament act in his capacity as the president because the Vice President Kwesi Amissah Arthur is currently in India.”
He further added that “this morning we were all expecting him to take the oath of office. The Chief Justice Georgina Wood was here then he comes into the Chamber and announces to the parliamentarians that he has not taken the oath of office. The reason being, he and the other leadership of the House as well as the Chief Justice have decided that per an oath he took in September 2013 which made him president then, there is no need for him to have sworn in again.”
“The precedence that we’ve always known has been broken so maybe you can say a new law has been introduced, which means that when the speaker swears in one he will not swear in again maybe for the remaining four years that he will be in office,” Umaru asserted.
However, Umaru observed that the opposition members who should have raised concerns about the supposed “breach of the constitution” all supported the move by the acting president.
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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana