"Today Article 60, tomorrow third term" - Minority warns of Mahama's constitutional breaches - MyJoyOnline

Published 3 days ago• 5 minute read

The Minority in Parliament has raised alarm over what it describes as President John Dramani Mahama's unconstitutional actions, warning these violations could pave the way for more serious breaches, including an attempt at a third term.

The opposition lawmakers accused the President of creating a constitutional vacuum by leaving the country without ensuring proper succession arrangements.

Under Ghana's constitution, leadership passes successively to the Vice President, Speaker of Parliament, and Chief Justice in the President's absence.

Currently, President Mahama is abroad, Vice President Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang is recuperating in London, Speaker Alban Bagbin is out of the country, and the Chief Justice is suspended with only an acting replacement in office.

No official has been sworn in to serve as president during this period.

Commenting on the development, Legal Counsel for the Minority in Parliament, John Darko, explained on news on Tuesday, May 13, that this constitutes a clear violation of Article 60.

“At the time the president was leaving, the Speaker of Parliament had already left," he argued.

“He [President Mahama] knew or ought to have known that he was going to create that vacuum and that leaving the country was going to be a breach of the constitution.”

“At the time the president was outside the country, nobody had been sworn to take the oath of the president to act as the president, and so that vacuum has been created,” the MP for Suame stressed.

He continued: “You have to take the oath, and as it stands now, nobody has taken that oath to act as president. I am in Parliament, we haven’t been called by the Office of the Speaker to swear anyone in as acting president.

The Minority warns that unchecked constitutional violations could embolden the President to disregard other provisions, including presidential term limits.

“The problem is that, if we allow these constitutional violations to go on, today it is Article 60, the next time it may be Article 18, the next time it may be your human rights and before you realize, the President might say, ‘I want to go for the third term’, because the guardrails that we have put there, he will consistently violate them without any punishment”.

Mr Darko reminded that the President swore an oath to uphold the Constitution.

“When he took the oath to be president, he said that if he violates the constitution, he will suffer the penalty thereof. Is the president now ready to subject himself to the oath of office? To be subjected to impeachment processes for unlawful violation of the constitutional provisions? These are questions we need to ask, and as a people of Ghana, we must all fight against this act of the president,” he concluded.

The Minority has vowed to pursue impeachment proceedings against President Mahama for what they term an "egregious breach" of constitutional provisions.

(1) There shall be a Vice-President of Ghana who shall perform such functions as may be assigned to him by this Constitution or by the President.

(2) A candidate for the office of Vice-President shall be designated by the candidate for the office of President before the election of the President.

(3) The provisions of article 62 of this Constitution apply to a candidate for election as Vice-President.

(4) A candidate shall be deemed to be duly elected as Vice-President if the candidate who designated him as candidate for election to the office of Vice-President has been duly elected as President in accordance with the provisions of article 63 of this Constitution.

(5) The Vice-President shall before commencing to perform the functions of Vice-President, take and subscribe the oath of allegiance and the Vice-Presidential oath set out in the Second Schedule to this Constitution.

(6) Whenever the President dies, resigns or is removed from office, the Vice-President shall assume office as President for the unexpired term of office of the President with effect from the date of the death, resignation or removal of the President.

(7) Where the unexpired term served by the Vice-President under clause (6) of this article exceeds half the term of a President, the Vice-President is subsequently only eligible to serve one full term as, President.

(8) Whenever the President is absent from Ghana or is for any other reason unable to perform the functions of his office, the Vice-President shall perform the functions of the President until the President returns or is able to perform his functions.

(9) The Vice-President shall, before commencing to perform the functions of the President under clause (6) of this article, take and subscribe the oath set out in the Second Schedule to this Constitution in relation to the office of President.

(10) The Vice-President shall, upon assuming office as President under clause (6) of this article, nominate a person to the office of Vice-President subject to approval by Parliament.

(11) Where the President and the Vice-President are both unable to perform the functions of the President, the Speaker of Parliament shall perform those functions until the President or the Vice-President is able to perform those functions or a new President assumes office, as the case may be.

(12) The Speaker shall, before commencing to perform the functions of the President under clause (11) of this article, take and subscribe the oath set out in relation to the office of President.

(13) Where the Speaker of Parliament assumes the office of President as a result of the death, resignation or removal from office of the President and the Vice-President, there shall be a presidential election within three months after his assumption of office.

(14) The provisions of article 69 of this Constitution shall apply to the removal from office of the Vice-President.

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