The President of policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe has described as needless the role of the Council of State in the country.
“I don’t subscribe to a council of state, I think it is needless,” he said on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday.
Ghana’s 1992 constitution mandates the Council of State to advise the President in respect to any appointments he makes.
Though the election of members to the Council of State is yet to be done, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has made a number of appointments in recent times with many operating in acting capacities.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Saturday, Franklin Cudjoe said though he does not seek to bastardize institutions set up by the constitution, he explained that several precedents had shown that the Council of State is usually sidelined by presidents during decision making time.
“I’m not saying that the legal issues do not matter, not at all, I think they do matter…my thinking really is that the council of state will likely agree with the President’s nominee. The council of state is a body I’m not entirely enthused about. I think we don’t really need the council of state right now because the leaders rarely rely on them,” the president of IMANI Ghana argued.
He explained that “during the STX debacle in Mills’ time, a member of the council of state at the time said on radio that they were there to advice but nobody came to them.”
“So my issue is that in spite of a constitutional animal that says this should be done, to be fair, was the council of state going to say anything different?. I’m not by the way bustard zing institutions that have been set up…Having said that I’d add that I don’t subscribe to a council of state, I think it is needless,” he maintained.
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission is currently accepting nominations form persons desiring to be part of the Council of State.
The nominations which commenced on January 20 will be closed on January 26, 2017.
So far a total of 35 people drawn from three regions have filed to contest the Council of State election slated for February 9.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
