The Executive Director of IDEG is demanding an amendment of the transition act to deal with sensitive appointments during the transition period.
Dr Emmanuel Akwetey believes the last minute appointments being handed to individuals by the outgoing government does not bode well for good governance.
Speaking to Joy News’ Francis Abban, the governance expert believes something urgent needs to be done to the law to prevent such last minute appointments.
His comments follow the swearing in of the chairpersons of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE).
Questions have been raised about the timing of the confirmation of Joseph Whittal of CHRAJ and Josephine Nkrumah of the NCCE as substantive heads of the two institutions.
With the two positions having a security of tenure critics say the last minute appointment by the defeated John Mahama administration smacks of bad faith, an action meant to tie the hands of the incoming administration.
A suit seeking to overturn the action by the president has been filed by a member of the NPP, Patrick Buamah, with Lawyer Philip Addison as lead counsel.
The NPP transition team has also given a hint it may review some of the last minute decisions being taken by the outgoing administration.
But the outgoing administration has defended the actions taken by president John Mahama.
Environment Minister Mahama Ayariga insists the mandate of the president is still in force until midnight of the 6th of January.
He argued that to ask president Mahama not to make any appointment is to violate the dictates of the constitution which gives the president the power to take decisions until the 6th of January before handing over power.
Discussing the matter on Joy News, the Executive Director of IDEG, Dr Akwetey argued the law must be changed to take care of some of the governance defects.
He said some of the best examples from Australia can help solve some of these problems.
“You don’t always want to do what is legally right. You should also look at the time, the fact that these decisions ideally should have been made earlier,” he said.
He noted the fact that the erstwhile Kufuor government committed same errors in 2008 does not give the outgoing Mahama government to repeat same in 2016.
“Two wrongs do not make a right. And if we are not careful it will lead to the breakdown of the negotiation.
The law should be looked at so that these behaviors which undermine conditions for the people and collaborative transitions would be dealt with in subsequent times,” he said.
“We have to evolve,” he pointed out and cited a similar situation in Australia where an outgoing prime minister does launch new projects six months prior to his handing over ceremony.
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