Minority�s Allegation of Breach Of Constitution Council Of State Directs Speaker To Revert To House

Snippets of credible information reaching the New Crusading GUIDE as at press time yesterday revealed that the Council of State has directed the Speaker of Parliament, Doe Adjaho, to revert back to the House to resolve the circumstance under which he allegedly took a unilateral decisions on the Constitution Review Commission�s recommendations on entrenched provisions without seeking the consent of Parliament. The content of the letter dated May 8, 2014, was not made readily available to this paper but insiders say it has been copied to the minority leader to ensure an amicable resolution of the matter in the legislative house. Sources have however said that the Council of State might have seen wisdom in the argument of the minority hence the directive for the Speaker to revert to the house for the resolution. It would be recalled that the Minority at a press conference last Wednesday accused the Speaker of Parliament of taking unilateral decisions on the Constitution Review Commission�s recommendations on entrenched provisions in the 1992 Constitution. The Speaker reportedly failed to present the recommendations being proposed by government to the House but hurriedly referred the matter to the Council of State. Member of Parliament (MP) for Bekwai, Joe Osei-Owusu, who is also Chairman of Parliament�s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Committee, alleged Mr. Adjaho�s actions were unconstitutional and inappropriate and said, �We in the Minority regret to observe that the whole process of constitutional amendment is turning out to be nothing other than an executive review of the national constitution.� More so, a Legal Practitioner, Yaw Oppong backed the Minority�s claim that the bill was not appropriately referred to the Council of State since it was not in accordance with the constitution. He explained that �until the bill is gazetted for six months, introduced to Parliament, then Parliament refers to the Council of State, the bill cannot be said to have been properly referred to the Council of State.� Quoting Article 291 of the 1992 Constitution, Mr. Oppong said: �A bill to amend the provision of this constitution which is not an entrenched provision shall not be introduced to Parliament unless it has been published twice in the gazette with the second publication being made at least three months after the first and at least ten days after the second publication.�