Leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) caucus in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, has accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of being in breach of the Presidential (Transition) Act 2012, Act 845.
This is because the government, through the Administrator General, Haruna Iddrisu said, has failed to furnish the House with handing over notes of the various ministries, departments and agencies for the previous mandate of the president.
Section 6 of the Acts requires government to prepare the handing over notes 30 days to the presidential election.
The notes, section 7 of the Acts, mandates the Administrator-General to present the original copies to the elected president and copy Parliament, the Chief Justice, the Council of State, and the Public Records and Archives Administrative Department.
But Haruna Iddrisu, MP, Tamale South, said Parliament had not been copied as required by the Act.
This, he said, did not promote good governance and transparency.
“The president is in breach of the provisions of the Presidential (Transition) Act. We do not find that legally acceptable and in the interest of transparency and accountability,” he told the press in Parliament in Accra, yesterday.
“Where are the handover notes? As we speak, Parliament has no such record of any such handover notes from any ministry, department or agency as required under section 7 of Act 845.
“That is in breach and is not good enough for a government that must be accounting to the people of Ghana and Parliament.
“So we are demanding respect to the letter and spirit of Act 845 that all handing over notes of Ministries, Departments and Agencies are made available to Parliament and that I believe will be helping our work as an institution that exercises oversight.”
This information, Haruna Iddrisu said would assist the Appointments Committee of Parliament in subjecting nominees of the president to proper scrutiny.
“This year, vetting of minister nominees must not only be about curriculum vitae. We must go into records of persons who have exercised the authority as ministers or heads of departments and agencies,” he said.
Oversight, Mr Iddrisu said, remained the key primary function of Parliament and same would not be sacrificed to the pleasure of the executive.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
