{"id":115313,"date":"2015-05-11T19:21:26","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T19:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=115313"},"modified":"2015-05-11T19:21:26","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T19:21:26","slug":"dont-scrap-emoluments-for-article-71-office-holders-kwadwo-mpiani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/05\/dont-scrap-emoluments-for-article-71-office-holders-kwadwo-mpiani\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t scrap emoluments for Article 71 office holders – Kwadwo Mpiani"},"content":{"rendered":"
Former Chief of Staff under the Kufuor administration, Kwadwo Mpiani wants President John Mahama not to abolish emoluments for Article 71 office holders.<\/p>\n
He argued that the framers of the country\u2019s Constitution had very good reasons for making those provisions.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”XhYKp9hF5xvZcoc4bQhIuGV6JE0bO5dn”]\u201cI believe the framers of the Constitution thought about this and I\u2019m sure they might have had good reasons in doing that,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n
Article 71 (1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that the determination of the salaries and allowances of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary paid from the Consolidated Fund would be determined by the President, on the recommendations of a committee of not more than five persons appointed by him and acting upon the advice of the Council of State.<\/p>\n
In determining the salaries of the President, his Ministers and political appointees, as well as the members of the Council of State, the Constitution states that Parliament will make that determination based on the advice of the same committee.<\/p>\n
Article 71 office holders are made up of the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
The rest are Members of Parliament (MPs), Ministers of State, political appointees and public servants with salaries charged to the Consolidated Fund but enjoying special constitutional privileges.<\/p>\n
Over the years, there have been calls for a drastic reduction in the emolument of Article 71 office holders.<\/p>\n
Parliament was in 2012 tasked to review the salaries and emoluments approved by the House for members of the Executive.<\/p>\n