Renowned legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has commended former President John Dramani Mahama over his promise to cancel ex-gratia payment to Article 71 officeholders.
Speaking in an interview on Citi TV, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, Lawyer Kpebu urged the former president, not to only review Article 71 but should also repeal Article 78 which enjoins the president to appoint a majority of his ministers from Parliament.
He added that Article 78 is causing more harm to Ghana and must be also expunged or completely reviewed.
“Though I support the amendment of Article 71… the other point is that … they are other provisions that have a greater impact than (Article) 71.
“What I mean is the elephant in the room, that is decoupling ministers’ positions from MPship. Put simply the fact that we should amend Article 78 so that an MP (Member of Parliament) cannot be appointed a minister.
“To the extent that Mr Mahama says he wants to abolish Article 71, we will urge that apart from (Article) 71, we should add (Article) 78,” he said.
The lawyer, however, noted that Articles 78 and 71 are entrenched provisions of the 1992 Constitution and they can only be reviewed only through a national referendum.
He added that Mahama should be made to sign an undertaken that will enjoin him to cancel ex-gratia when he becomes president so that his promise will not just be another political talk.
Source: ghanaweb.com
