After Jerry John Rawlings won the Presidential election in 1992, a new constitution was brought into existence. This constitution brought together leaders from each occupation and institution like the lawyers, doctors, the different religious bodies, drives, teachers, amongst others to help gathered and write laws which could govern every aspect the country, forming the legislature to the executive down to the judiciary arm of government.<\/p>\n
While guaranteeing that the three arms of state are given roles which differentiate them from each other, the framers of the Constitution also found a way to intersect them in case one arm, particularly the Executive, is indisposed<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”bkq64YPsXFLJEJfYDchM7YKRO8VtGhP0″]Though the constitution mandates each Arm to be independent of the other, the same constitution gives room for interferences, as the president who is the head of state and head of government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Ghana (Executive) can still oversee and have full president of the activities of the legislature. An example is cited in Article 106 clauses (1) the power of parliament to make laws shall be exercised by bills passed by parliament and assented to by the president.<\/p>\n
In the same vein, Article 93 clause (2) states, subject to the provision of this constitution, the legislative power of Ghana shall be vested in parliament (headed by the speaker of parliament) and shall be exercised in accordance with this constitution.<\/p>\n
Article 60 (12) of his same constitution mandates the Speaker of Parliament who can be described as the third man of the land and also the head of the legislature, to be sworn in as the acting President in the absence of the elected Head of State and his vice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere the president and the vice- president are both unable to perform the function of the president, the speaker of parliament shall perform those function until the president or vice president is able to perform those function or a new president assumes office as the case may be\u201d (11).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe speaker shall, before commencing to perform the function of the president under clause (11) of this article, take and subscribe the oath set out in relation to the office of president.\u201d<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks ago, the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has had to leave the country to attend the inauguration of new Liberian President, Geirge Weah, AU summit in Ethiopia, and the funeral of the late South Africa Jazz music legend, Hugh Masakela on two separate trips. The vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia also spent the period in the United Kingdom on a medical leave after taking ill. The situation caused the Speaker of Parliament to be sworn in as acting President twice in the course of that week, all of which is constitutionally mandatory.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, the then Chief Justice, Theodora Georgina Wood on two occasions had to swear in the Speaker of Parliament Doe Adjaho as president in the absence of President John Mahama and his vice Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur.<\/p>\n
However, the law appeared breached when Doe Adjaho refused to be sworn in. The Supreme Court ruled as such in December, 2015 following a petition filed by managing director of Accra- based radio station Citi FM Samuel Atta Mensah and US-Ghanaian based lawyer Prof Stephen Kwaku Asare.<\/p>\n
A nine-member supreme court panel presided by Justice Sophia Akuffo ruled that the speaker is obligated to take the oath of office as president whenever\u00a0 the president and his vice are out of the country.<\/p>\n
I stand to be corrected, but I assume Doe Adjaho was in a dilemma not knowing what the Constitution meant by saying \u201cwhere the president and the vice- president are both unable to perform the function<\/strong> of the president, the speaker of parliament shall perform those function until the president or vice president is able to perform those function or a new president assumes office as the case may be\u201d (11).<\/p>\n The expression \u201cunable to perform their function<\/strong>\u201d sounds a bit vague I must say. Is the President unable to perform his functions when he\u2019s out of the country? Is he unable to perform his duties when he\u2019s sick? Is he unable to perform his duties when he snuggles in between the sheets on his bed? It\u2019s all a little too unclear.<\/p>\n The constitution is supposed to be the greatest law of the land, which guarantees certain basic rights for its citizens, divides and allocate power between organizations and institutions for effective implementation, why then should it be in a state of ambiguity, making it difficult to be executed?<\/p>\n The swearing in of the speaker of parliament has caused some upraise in the country and has drawn my attention to the loop holes in the constitution.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been over 6 decades since the constitution was birthed, with the structure of the society as of that time in mind. In the space of sixty years the structure of society has changed, and greatly evolved. The structure of governance and government has modernised, technology has been introduced and is moving the world day in day out and therefore the constitution as the supreme law of the land must be transformed to meet the current and demanding trends of the world, not forgetting to be steadfast in its core mandate.<\/p>\n Some critics have argued that the geographical location of the president does not restrict or incapacitate him from performing his presidential duties, stating in the modern times were technology rules and aids in making communication much personal no matter your location The President can send e-mails, telegraphs from wherever he is in the world instructing his Ministers on what needs to be done, or even make calls make phone calls,\u201d Ras Mubarak said.<\/p>\n The argument of the jurisdiction does not hold water for me taking the fact that the president sworn into office the foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway at the Ghanaian Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when he assumed officer as president January last year because at the time she was already in Ethiopia on a national assignment. Geographical locations don\u2019t really matter. This is placed in sharper focus given the Embassies in countries across the globe which represent Ghana, and from which the president can work.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the amount of money used to call in members of parliament each and every now and then to witness the swearing in of the speaker of parliament twice in a week when the president and vice are still alive and performing their presidential mandates in other countries is highly unnecessary. Such expenses could be used to develop some abandoned school structure for our children to have the best of education or even employ a number of doctors or nurses to man the numerous abandoned health facilities in the country.<\/p>\n I think it high time Amendments of some ambiguous and unclear laws should be reviewed to help protect and properly govern citizens.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Ann-Shirley Ziwu\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After Jerry John Rawlings won the Presidential election in 1992, a new constitution was brought into existence. This constitution brought together leaders from each occupation and institution like the lawyers, doctors, the different religious bodies, drives, teachers, amongst others to help gathered and write laws which could govern every aspect the country, forming the legislature […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":393642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[374],"tags":[3,271],"yoast_head":"\n