Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo
The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday unanimously held that parliamentary approval for payment of salaries to the wives of the President and the Vice President is in contravention of the 1992 Constitution.
The court presided over by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo and six other Justices of the apex court essentially held that the First and Second Ladies are not Article 71 Office Holders, hence, are not entitled to salaries and other emoluments provided for by the constitution.
The pronouncement was contained in a decision on a writ filed by the Bono East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe aka Abronye DC, challenging the constitutionality of the parliamentary approval for salaries to be paid to the spouses of the President and the Vice President.
The decision also touched on a similar writ filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, challenging the Prof. Ntiamoah-Badu Committee’s recommendation for the spouses to be paid.
First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Second Lady Samira Bawumia, in the heat of discussions on the writ filed before the Supreme Court, decided to refund all the monies that have been paid to them as salaries and have since stopped taking salaries from the Consolidated Fund.
The Supreme Court did not make any consequential orders about a refund but the decision means that going forward, no First or Second Lady would be paid salaries by dint of merely being the wives of the President and Vice President.
Abronye DC, in his writ, was seeking a declaration that the approval by Parliament to pay salaries to the First and Second Ladies is inconsistent with Article 71 Clauses 1 and 2 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and consequently be declared null, void and unenforceable.
He also sought a declaration that, per Article 71 (1) and (2), the positions of the First and Second Ladies of Ghana do not fall under the category of public office holders.
He again sought a “declaration that, per Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the Emolument Committee is limited to recommending the salaries and other benefits and privileges of only public office holders.”
These three relieves were granted by the seven-member panel presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo and assisted by Justices Gabriel Pwamang, Avril Lovelace Johnson, Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Barbara Ackah-Yensu, Samuel Asiedu, and Ernest Gaewu.
The court, however, refused the relief, seeking a “declaration that, per Articles 108 and 178 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana; Parliament cannot, on its own accord, initiate or approve payment of any such emoluments; which would necessarily be paid from public funds; without a bill to that effect emanating from and introduced by the Government, and dully passed into law.”
In the case of the writ filed by Mr. Dafeamekpor, the court dismissed six of his seven reliefs and granted the one seeking a declaration that “upon a true and proper interpretation of the Constitution, 1992, spouses of the President and the Vice President are not Article 71 office holders for the purposes of receipt of wages and emoluments.”
The reliefs that were dismissed included “a declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 71(1) of the 1992 Constitution, the Prof. Ntiamoah-Badu Committee exceeded its jurisdiction, mandate and authority, when it purported to make recommendations in respect of privileges, facilities, salaries and allowances payable to the First and Second Ladies of Ghana.”
It also sought a further declaration that the recommendations of the Committee, to the extent that it pertains to the First and Second Ladies of the Republic, are null, void and of no effect.
The writ also sought an order declaring the recommendations in respect of privileges, facilities, salaries and allowances payable to the First and Second Ladies of the Republic as unconstitutional and void.
Again, “an order restraining the President of the Republic or any other arm, ministry, department, or agency of the executive from implementing any recommendations of the Prof. Ntiamoah Committee which pertains to the First and Second Ladies of the Republic.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak