The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has sent a note to the Jubilee House, informing President Akufo-Addo not to repeat the wrong he has made in the appointment of members to the Council of State going forward.
According to Rt. Hon. Bagbin, a communique from Jubilee House announcing the appointment of members to the Council and stating inter alia that such appointments by the President were made in consultation with Parliament was factually incorrect, stressing that Parliament was not consulted in that exercise.
He drew the President’s attention to Article 89(2) of the 1992 Constitution which states that “The Council of State shall consist of –
- the following persons appointed by the President in consultation with Parliament— (i) one person who has previously held the office of Chief Justice; (ii) one person who has previously held the office of Chief of Defence Staff of the Armed Forces of Ghana; (iii) one person who has previously held the office of Inspector-General of Police; (b) the President of the National House of Chiefs; (c) one representative from each region of Ghana elected, in accordance with regulations made by the Electoral Commission under article 51 of this Constitution, by an electoral college comprising two representatives from each of the districts in the region nominated by the District Assemblies in the region; and (d) eleven other members appointed by the President.
To the Speaker of Parliament, even though Jubilee House has made an assertion that the President consulted Parliament in the appointment of members to the Council of State, he could state on authority that “Parliament was not consulted”.
Rt. Hon. Bagbin made these comments on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, when the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu asked the Acting Communications Director at the President, Eugene Arhin, to respect the constitutional provisions before putting certain information into the public domain.
Haruna Iddrisu had emphasized that in the appointment of members to the Council of State, Parliament should have been consulted per the dictates of the 1992 Constitution. Alas, the House was not consulted in the eleven-member appointments made by the President to serve on the Council of State.
Such wrong, he noted, should not repeat itself.
