[ 2014-11-09 ]

CJ, Speaker involved in impeachable offenses – says Prof Kwaku Asare
A US-based Ghanaian constitutional lawyer, S.
Kwaku Asare, is asking the Chief Justice Georgina
Wood to provide an official and detailed
explanation of incidents leading to the
non-swearing in of the Speaker of Parliament
Edward Doe-Adjaho as the acting President.

The speaker refused to take the oath, claiming a
previous oath he took in that same capacity still
holds.

But in a letter to the Chief Justice, and copied
to the President, MPs and the Council of State,
Mr. Asare says the current situation borders on
high crime and a violation of both the Chief
Justice and Speaker’s oaths of office.

"Your Ladyship will, no doubt, be aware that this
situation is extremely serious, bordering on high
crime, and a clear violation of you and the
Speaker’s oaths of office. It is without doubt
that these violations are impeachable offenses."

Below is a copy of his letter.





November 7, 2014

Dear Chief Justice Wood:

I am by this letter requesting that you officially
clarify a matter that has plunged the country into
a constitutional crisis. As your Ladyship is no
doubt aware, the Constitution provides at Article
60, sub-articles (11) and (12) that:

“(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.”

In furtherance of Article 60(12), your Ladyship is
obliged to administer the Presidential oath to the
Speaker whenever the President and Vice President
are unable to perform the functions of the
President. It is also clear from Article 60(11)
that the Speaker’s warrant to perform the
functions of the President expires when either the
President or Vice-President is able to perform
those functions. Because there is no such thing as
a permanent Acting President, the Speaker is
required to take and subscribe the Article 60(12)
oath as many times as he has to perform the
functions of the President under Article 60 (11).
Without taking the oath under Article 60(12), the
speaker cannot perform the functions of the
President.

In Asare v Attorney General [2003-4] SCGLR 823,
the Supreme Court held that “the purposive
interpretation to be given to Article 60(11) is
that where both the President and the
Vice-President are absent from Ghana, they are to
be regarded as unable to perform the functions of
the President and thus the Speaker is obliged to
perform those functions.”

Thus, when President Mahama was in Burkina Faso
and Vice-President Amissah-Arthur was in India,
both performing official functions, the
Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court
in Asare, deemed them unable to perform their
functions. In turn, this required your Ladyship to
administer the oath to the Speaker to allow him to
perform the functions of the President, as
stipulated by Article 60(11)-(12).

On November 7, 2014, the President travelled to
Nigeria while the Vice-President was still in
India. It has been reported that your Ladyship
returned to Parliament. However, the Presidential
oath was, once again, not administered and the
Speaker failed to act as President as required by
Article 60(11) of the Constitution.

Thus, in clear and material violation of the
Constitution, your Ladyship, on two occasions, has
attempted to but has not administered the oath
required by Article 60 (12) and the Speaker could
not perform the functions required of him under
Article 60(11). In consequence, there was no
President of Ghana on November 5, 2014 and
November 7, 2014, a situation that is strictly
forbidden by the Constitution, as clearly and
elegantly explained by the Supreme Court in the
Asare case.

Your Ladyship will, no doubt, be aware that this
situation is extremely serious, bordering on high
crime, and a clear violation of you and the
Speaker’s oaths of office. It is without doubt
that these violations are impeachable offenses.

I respectfully request that your Ladyship should
provide a, quick, official and detailed
explanation of the incidents that occurred on
November 5, 2014 and November 7, 2014 that has led
to the current constitutional crisis. This
explanation is necessary to allow a confused
nation to understand the situation and take the
appropriate remedial measures.

cc:
The President,
The Speaker of Parliament
All Members of Parliament
Council of State
Media

Sincerely,

Source - S. Kwaku Asare, CFE, JD, PhD

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