New Patriotic Party’s Bono Regional Chairman, Kwame Baffoe, aka Abronye DC, on Thursday filed a writ at the Supreme Court against the decision to pay salaries to spouses of the President and Vice-President of Ghana.
The Attorney General, representing the State has 14 days to respond to the writ upon the day of service.
The writ stated that the approval by Parliament to pay salaries to the first and second ladies was inconsistent with Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution and should be declared null, void and unenforceable.
“Declaration that per Article 71(1) and (2), the positions of the ladies do not fall under the category of Public Office holders,” it added.
The writ said per Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the Emolument Committee was limited to recommending the salaries and other benefits and privileges of only public office holders.
“… 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 duly passed into law,” it said.
The GNA gathered that the payment of allowances to the first and second ladies “was a special purpose intervention from President Rawlings and his 4th Republican government to the Article 71 Committee and formally approved by Parliament by consensus in the Committee’s package”.
It was said to be intended to deepen political reconciliation and stabilise the 4th Republic.
The first ladies were placed on Deputy Minister’s level under the package.
Apart from the allowances, they benefited from “a little office and a car”.
GNA