The Youth Wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has disclosed its intention to challenge the decision to pay the First and Second Ladies emoluments as Cabinet Ministers from 2017 at the Supreme Court.
The group in a press statement issued yesterday noted that, “it has become aware of a news item attributed to Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, that Parliament has approved recommendations of the Prof Yaa Ntiamoah-Baidu-led Committee on emoluments for article 71 officeholders, for which reason spouses of President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia will receive same monthly salaries as Cabinet Ministers.”
Article 71 (1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution states that 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.
Article 71 named public office holders who qualify as; the President, the Vice-President, the chairman and the other members of the Council of State; Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers.
Aside from describing the move as surprising, the youth wing noted that the attempt to institutionalize the payment of salaries to Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Mrs. Samira Bawumia is an affront on the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
In line with this, NDC National Youth Organizer, George Opare Addo noted that “the Youth Wing will in the coming days invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to declare this cancerous and insensitive act unconstitutional”.
“So we are raiding the Supreme Court to seek two things; whether the Professor Yaa Ntiamoah Badu committee exceeded its mandate of reviewing the emolument of article 71 office holding and whether or not the emolument committee could add groups of people who were not originally mentioned in article 71”, he added
According to Mr. George Opare Addo “there is no ambiguity with article 71 and if the President or anyone who wishes to play or draw salaries or money from the consolidated funds, then article 108 makes it very clear and under which procedures that must be done. A bill must be laid before Parliament by the executives and it will be debated by the members of parliament and ask the relevant questions as to whether or not the wife of the president or vice president should be paid emolument from the consolidated funds”.
He noted that in the absence of that, anything that has been done, contrary to this provision in article 108, read together with article 178 “constitute a nullity” the reason for which the NDC is going to the Supreme Court for proper interpretation.
Source: ATLFMNEWS
