President Nana Akufo-Addo has bemoaned the inability of Parliament to exercise effective oversight over the Executive arm of government, stressing that Parliament should be able to exercise full authority over public finances.
“I belong to the group that feels strongly that our Parliament should be able to exercise full authority over our public finances,” President Akufo-Addo said during a speech delivered at an event organised by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday.
Thus, President Akufo-Addo said he would be in favour of an amendment of the Constitution, adding that “if this were done, it would enhance significantly Parliament’s oversight capacity.”
He, however, acknowledged that the amendment of the Constitution is not something that would be easily done, explaining that “we take our politics very seriously, and we are passionate about our beliefs, and it would not be easy to make such a change or any change, for that matter, to the Constitution.”
Also commenting on the Judiciary, President Akufo-Addo said Ghanaians “have not yet lived down the trauma of the excruciating shock and embarrassment of seeing officers of our courts in such compromising situations,” following the Anas exposé of corruption in the Judiciary.
The expose by Anas Aremeyaw Anas revealed deep-rooted corruption within the country’s judiciary system and exposed dozens of judges and other staff of the judicial services who received bribes to pervert justice.
The exposé, which shocked many Ghanaians is the biggest corruption scandal to have hit the country’s judiciary. An investigation by the service resulted in the suspension of some judges and dismissal of others.
President Akufo-Addo, however, believes things will get better for the Judiciary as he expressed confidence that the new prospective Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, “will be an effective leader of the Judiciary, and guard jealously its independence. She will bring honour to the Judiciary and to our country.”
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
