Replace Council of State with Upper House - Constitution Review Commission told

Ashaiman, June 14, GNA - The Constitution Review Commission was on Monday called upon to scrap Article 89 of the 1992 Constitution, which established the Council of State.

Mr Neequaye Dzanie, Presiding Member of the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA) who made the call, said the Council of State should be replaced with the 'Upper House'.

Mr Dzanie added that the provision in the Constitution which mandates the President to appoint 14 members of the Council as against 10 voted members should be changed.

He gave the suggestion at a Constitutional Review stakeholders meeting at Ashaiman.

The meeting was to provide the stakeholders with the platform for an in-depth discussion on the 44 issues that has emerged from initial submissions made to the Commission.

The issues included the tenure of office of the President, number of Ministers to be appointed, the powers of the President, separation of the Office of the Attorney-General from the Minister of Justice, and the appointment of Ministers from Parliament, among others. The ASHMA Presiding Member said membership into the Upper House would solely be on the basis of voting.

Mr Michael Agbe-Tsoamedo, President of the Ashaiman Branch of the Ghana Blind Union, on his part, called for the inclusion of a representative from the physically challenged in the country, to advise the President on their issues.

He said it was unfortunate that even though Ghana was made up of both the able bodied persons and the physically challenged, only the able body persons were represented on the Council. While some participants called for the age of the members of the Council to be placed not below 60 years, others also argued that the youth must be duly represented on the Council to properly advice the President on youthful issues.

They explained that the current situation of having only the elderly on the Council was not helping the Youth as issues on education and employment were not being tackled properly to the satisfaction of the youth who constituted the greater percentage of the population. On the issue of the President determining the salaries, allowances, and facilities of Members of Parliament, participants agreed that an independent body such as the Fair Wages Commission should be tasked with the responsibility of determining such remunerations. They further stated that experts must be engaged to come out with the salaries to be given to the President, Parliamentarians and other Public Officials, to avoid the current controversies surrounding payments of stipend.

Alhaji Ibrahim Tijani, ASHMA Co-ordinating Director, in a welcome address, said the meeting was a follow-up on the community forum held on the review last Tuesday. He said it was important that participants expressed their views on the issues to enable their concerns to be considered in the final determination of the review. 14 June 10