General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketia has asked all Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Director Generals of public corporations appointed by previous administrations but were sacked by President Akufo-Addo upon the latter's assumption of office, to return to post.
He says the party welcomes the decision in a recent ruling by the Supreme Court in which the court held unanimously that it is unconstitutional and therefore null and void, for the government of President Akufo-Addo to remove from office, all chief executive officers and director-generals of public corporations appointed by previous administrations.
Speaking in an interview on Okay Fm's Ade Akye Abia Programme, he explained that the Court has clarified the constitutional position vis-a-vis the provisions of the Presidential Transition Act.
"I am advising all such categories of chief executive officers and director-generals who were so affected to take appropriate steps to vindicate their rights in the appropriate fora....
"If I was a dismissed chief executive officer or director-general, i will have gone back to occupy my position without any hesitation because the supreme court has made the appropriate interpretation on the matter," he told Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie, host of the show.
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Landmark Ruling
The removal of heads of public corporations as a result of a change of government was declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court over the weekend.
In a unanimous decision, a seven-member panel of the court, presided over by the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, held that per Article 190 Clause 1(b) of the 1992 Constitution, public corporations were part of the Public Services of Ghana and, therefore, such persons were public service officers whose appointments were protected by the Constitution.
By this decision, the Supreme Court has repealed the section of the Presidential (Transition) Act 2012 (Act 845) which terminated the appointments of the chief executives or director-generals of public corporations, statutory boards and authorities upon the assumption of office of a new President.
“To the extent that Section 14 of the Presidential (Transition) Act 2012 (Act 845) requires the chief executives or director-general (however described) of public boards or corporations to cease to hold office upon the assumption of office by a person elected as President of the Republic of Ghana, the same is hereby declared to be unconstitutional and void for being in contravention of articles 190 and 191 of the Constitution,” the court held.
The unanimous decision of the court was read by Justice Professor Nii Ashie Kotey, while the other members on the panel were Justices Jones Dotse, Sule Gbadegbe, Anthony A. Benin, Samuel K. Marful-Sau and Nene Amegatcher.
The case culminating in the Supreme Court’s judgment was initiated on January 4, 2017 by a legal practitioner, Mr Theophilus Donkor, who invoked the original jurisdiction of the court to interpret the 1992 Constitution.
Counsel for the plaintiff was Mr Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe.
Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]
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