Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Gloria Akuffo, has called for an amendment to the provisions of the Presidential Transition Act, 2012 (Act 845) to make it more definitive.
Speaking during an Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) 2017 Presidential Transition forum, Madam Akuffo noted that the controversy over the residences and vehicles for outgoing government officials, as well as those the role of the Administrator General in the transition process would all be better addressed through this amendment.
“We speak about assets being taken and run away with. It behoves those who hold those properties to deal with them rightly. We have enough laws and regulation we should rely on,” she said.
“It says before you leave office, you hand over all government property in your possession. When I took office as The Deputy Attorney General, moving to live in an official bungalow before I took possession of it, we took an inventory, we both signed, they took their copy and I kept my copy.”
On the matter of last-minute contracts, she acknowledged that an outgoing government had the power to continue to govern until its final day office.
“But when we apply the law, you do not interpret it to the point of absurdity. You take the totally of the law into account. The law that empowers that you rules to the last day also has an aspect running from it to the transition act,” Madam Akuffo stated.
The Presidential Transition Act, 2012 (Act 845) was enacted to establish arrangements for the political transfer of administration from an out-going democratically elected President and to provide for related matters.
Parliament passed a new amendment of Presidential Transition Bill in October 2016 and under the new amendment of the Presidential Transition Act 2012, the outgoing President would be required to vacate the official bungalows one month before swearing-in of the new President on January 7.
The Bill also granted the Office Administrator General legal powers to forcefully evict an outgoing President when they exceed the time limit.
Until the enactment of the Presidential Transition Act, 2012 (Act 845), there was no legal blueprint for the transition of political power in the country. This left transitions characterised by administrative lapses, forced evictions and seizure of vehicles.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
