Chief Justice can’t be president if election 2020 is postponed – Paul Adom Otchere

Renowned media practitioner, Paul Adom Otchere has argued that in a case where the battle against coronavirus hampers the compilation of a new voters’ register and subsequently the December polls, the Chief Justice cannot take over reins of government.

Though the Ghanaian constitution makes room for the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief Justice as potential substitutes in a case where the president and his vice are absent, Mr Adom Otchere says the legal framework does not “contemplate the Chief Justice running the show as President.”

The question as to whether the scheduled December general elections will come off still lingers unanswered as the nation battles for a sustainable treatment for the deadly novel coronavirus.

Speaking in an interview on CitiFM’s Eyewitness News, he argued that;

“We will not get there with the issue about the Chief Justice. It is fundamental to explain that in order of hierarchy in terms of the most important people of the state, there is a President, Vice President, Speaker of Parliament and Chief Justice."

"The law does not actually contemplate the Chief Justice running the show as President because the law provides for what the Vice President does under circumstances for him to perform the functions of the President. It also provides under what circumstances it brings the Speaker”.

Already, the Electoral Commission has called off its scheduled April 18 new voters’ register compilation with no new date announced.

In light of this, legal practitioners have begun assessing the viability of other constitutional provisions in preparations towards a worst-case scenario for the December polls.



While others hold that the Chief Justice can hold the fort in a case where the election is postponed and parliament is dissolved thereafter, Mr Adom Otchere has cancelled such arguments with reason that;

“Under Articles 60, 11 and 13, you find that when the President and Vice President are both not available, the Speaker would. And it actually proceeds that when the Speaker finds himself in such a situation, he shall call elections in three months so that the Speaker’s tenure as President of Ghana within such circumstances is limited to 90 days…”

Adding that, “… I don’t think we will get to the position where there is no Speaker or Parliament of sort and therefore we have to come to the fourth most important person; the Chief Justice. I don’t think the Constitution contemplates that. The list that is given in terms of the four is to indicate in terms of the state. It’s really a protocol issue.”