Kwame Baffoe, aka Abronye DC
MEMBERS OF a Supreme Court panel on Tuesday advised counsel for Kwame Baffoe, aka Abronye DC, to take some current and former Members of Parliament (MPs) who allegedly took double salaries to the proper forum for redress if he feels they were not entitled to the payments between 2009 and 2016.
Abronye DC, in a writ before the apex court, argues that the ministers and deputy ministers who were serving MPs at the time, drew double salaries in contravention of Article 98 of the 1992 Constitution.
He is seeking, among others, an order of the court on the MPs to refund the double salaries into the Consolidated Fund.
The court earlier granted an order for substituted service of the writ after the plaintiff was facing challenges to serve the defendants in the matter.
The Office of the Attorney General has filed an application raising a preliminary issue questioning the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to hear the mater.
The court yesterday asked counsel for the plaintiff what ambiguities he saw in the 1992 Constitution regarding the issue that needed to be interpreted by the court, and he mentioned Article 78 and 98.
Members of the seven-member panel took turns to advise the plaintiff that it would be proper for him to take the said MPs, ministers and deputy ministers to the proper forum for them to be surcharged if it was his argument that they were not entitled to the monies paid to them by the Controller and Accountant General.
Meanwhile, the court has given counsel for the accused 14 days to file a response to the preliminary issue raised about the jurisdiction of the court. The case was adjourned to November 9, 2022, for counsels to make their legal submissions.
The former ministers and deputy ministers sued for drawing double salaries include Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, former Minister of Communication; Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, former Petroleum Minister and MP for Ellembelle; Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, former Sports Minister and MP for Odododiodoo; Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, former Deputy Minister of Finance and MP for Ketu South; and Alhassan Azong.
The rest are Eric Opoku, Abdul Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, Mark Owen Woyongo, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah, and Aquinas Tawiah Quansah.
Abronye DC went to the Supreme Court to challenge the defendants for withdrawing salaries as MPs and another as ministers or deputy ministers.
The writ is seeking a declaration that the defendants receiving double salaries as MPs and ministers or deputy ministers from the Consolidated Fund between 2009 and 2016 was inconsistent with Article 98 of the Constitution hence null and void.
It is also seeking a declaration that per Article 98 of the Constitution, the MPs were not entitled to double salaries without the express permission of the Speaker of Parliament acting on the recommendation of a committee of Parliament and, therefore, ought to be declared unconstitutional.
Again, the writ is seeking a declaration that the MPs, former ministers and deputy ministers drawing double salaries between 2009 and 2016 from the Consolidated Fund was in violation of Article 78(3) of the Constitution.
The writ is finally seeking an order of the court directing the MPs, former ministers and deputy ministers to refund the double salaries they received between 2009 and 2016.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak