Aug 05, 2012 at 11:14am

Lawyer Chris Ackummey has kicked against the intended public vetting of vice presidential nominee, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur.

The immediate past Governor of the Bank of Ghana will be appearing before the Parliament Appointments Committee on Monday, August 6 after President John Dramani Mahama nominated him to be his vice-president.

The legal practitioner argues Parliament is acting contrary to the 1992 Constitution, which states that the vice-president (who becomes president) will nominate a vice-president for “approval” when he assumes office following the death of a sitting President.

Article 60 (10) of the Constitution states: “The Vice-President shall, upon assuming office as President under clause (6) of this article, nominate a person to the office of Vice-President subject to approval by Parliament.”

Lawyer Ackummey's argument follows that of a former Member of Parliament for Akim-Oda, Yaw Osafo Marfo, who earlier this week expressed his strong disagreement with Parliament’s decision to openly vet Mr. Amissah-Arthur.

“After the President comes the Vice-President and the Speaker, so the Vice-President is higher than the Speaker,” Mr. Marfo told Citi News.

“I think that the Vice-President cannot go through a vetting process like a Minister or a Deputy Minister.”

Mr. Osafo Marfo opined: “In order of precedence, the Vice-President is higher than the Speaker and the Speaker is not subject to vetting and therefore the Vice-President cannot be subject to public vetting.”



By Citifmonline.com/Ghana