A vice president of policy think tank IMANI Ghana, Kofi Bentil, has appealed to President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to use the New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary majority to scrap the Council of State.
According to him, the continuous existence of the council is taking an unnecessary toll on the finances of the country and, therefore, must be abolished.
The Council of State is a small body of prominent citizens which advises the president on national issues. It was established by Articles 89 to 92 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which said: "There shall be a Council of State to counsel the President in the performance of his functions.”
It is supposed to include a former Chief Justice of Ghana, a former Chief of Defence Staff and a former Inspector General of Police and the President of the National House of Chiefs. Each region of Ghana also has an elected representative. The President of Ghana also appoints 11 members. Members stay in office until the term of office of the president ends.
However, Mr Bentil is of the view that this establishment serves no purpose but rather drains the economy.
He wrote on his Facebook page: “Dear Nana, please use your parliamentary majority to amend the constitution and abolish the Council of State. ...We won't miss it! It’s an expensive and unprofitable albatross on our finances! If you do this, we will thank you!”
Source: classfmonline.com
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Also the ex-gratia payments for both parliamentarians and ministers must be scrapped. why should they be taking this huge amounts every four years. Some have been taking it ever since the 4th republic, why should this be accepted by us when ordinary people are suffering in this country, but only a few are enjoying. Especially, difficult to understand are those that goes to the re-elected or re- appointed officers This is totally unfair to the people of this country who sweat to pay their taxes. These so-called politicians are killing our souls We are calling on Nana to scrapped for us.
I thought this guy is a lawyer. His proposal is equal to scrapping the Parliament. He doesn't even know most appointments are on the advice of this council and when scrapped will be those positions can never be filled. To deal with such will mean writing a new constitution altogether. I'm not a lawyer but this one paaa this lawyer seems to lack knowledge of what he learnt at school.
the law appointing council of state has outlive its usefulness. their advice is mostly in support of what the ruling party and the president have already decided. a typical example is the Muntie 3 saga where the council could have shown maturity but what did they do?
A bold proposition! Many of 'these' have made it life (otherwise, i dont see why they qualify). So i believe they can take care of themselves. Rather what goes to support them should be chanelled to provide jobs and opportunities for our teeming unemployed youths. Again, most of the numerous people who served on Government boards and corperations should be scrapped. In recent times,it has become a beehive for draining the public purse.Few serious minded and knowledgeable people should be deployed to make such institutions very functional, and provitable.
Seconded. This usel1ess council must be scraped... It is a total waste of state resources to support it.