NPP’s Abronye DC, South Dayi MP Sued AG over Salary for Rebecca & Samira, NDC, ASEPA to file Friday
Bono Regional Chairman of New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kwame Baffoe (Abronye DC), South Dayi MP Rockson Nelson Dafeamakpor and Builsa South MP Dr. Clement Apaak have dragged the Attorney General to court over deliberate agenda to pay presidential spouses-Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Samira Bawumia salaries, allowances and emoluments.
This follows approval of emolument s for First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Second Lady Samira Bawumia to be paid salaries and allowances equal to those of cabinet ministers from 2017 at the time Ghana is hard-hit with covid-19 with devastating impacts to lives and national economy.
According to Abronye Dc, Rockson Nelson Dafeamakpor and Dr. Clement Apaak presidential spouses-Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Samira Bawumia are not part of Article 71 office holders in the eyes of the law and cannot be paid emoluments arguing that the decision will cripple the public purse and put pressure on the national kitty.
Speaking in an interview monitored by African Editors on Thursday 8 July 2021 in Accra Lawyer Dafiamakpor says the approval is unconstitutional but the NPP majority caucus in parliament used their numbers to approve the report last year.
In a sharp reaction, the vocal South Dayi Lawmaker Dafeamakpor said his latest “legal tussle at the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the emoluments for Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Samira Bawumia is because the Ntiamoah Committee erred in its recommendations to parliament”.
Abronye DC noted that the approval by parliament to pay presidential spouses is inconsistent with article 71 and must be declared null and void”.
The two plaintiffs-Abrony DC and Lawyer Dafeamakpor among other reliefs are invoking the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to declare that the ceremonial offices of the First and the Second Lady of Ghana do not fall under the Article 71 office holders, that the emoluments committee is limited from recommending benefits of persons who are not Article 71 office holders, that per Article 108 of the constitution, public office holders cannot determine emoluments for themselves.
In what appears to be a looming multiple legal tussle against the state, both ASEPA and opposition NDC are set to file a suit at the apex court to challenge the legality of the salary approved by parliament. They will be seeking perpetual injunction to stop the payment intended to be backdated from 2017.
In a high-pitched reaction, Executive Director of CDD-Ghana Prof. H. Kwesi Prempeh, and Lawyer Edudzi Tameklo have urged President Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia to amend the constitution if they want their better-halves to be paid with the IMANI Africa Boss Franklin Cudjoe asking them to spell out their duties.
According Prof. Prempeh, President Akufo-Addo, Bawumia and Parliament cannot smuggle payments of emoluments for their wives in the name of Article 71of the 1992 Constitution urging them to go back to the drawing board on the matter.
Source: africaneditors.com
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