Take away president's power of appointing IGP and CJ – Emile Short

Former Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Short, has suggested the power of appointment of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Chief Justice should be taken away from the president.

This he believes will prevent the tendency of political interference in the discharge of their duties.

According to him, the IGP is not able to stamp his authority on offences committed by political activists because he is appointed by the president.

Speaking to Class News’ Jerry Akornor on the sidelines of the 2018 GIMPA Law Conference in Accra on Thursday, 15 February 2018, the former High Court Judge said the current practice must be changed to adopt competitive tendering approach to ensure the IGP is not at the beck and call of the president of the day.

He said: “I think when you extend the president’s appointment to non-political positions, it tends to politicise those positions and influence the appointees in the discharge of their duties even though it should not be so but in practice sometimes it does.

“The president appointing the IGP, I think that is totally unacceptable. We should have a more transparent and inclusive method of appointment which will ensure that he does not have to look behind when he’s discharging his duties or when his subordinates are dealing with offences committed by the supporters of the sitting administration. We have seen in the past that, that has to some extent resulted in the constraint in the way political offences are dealt with.

“And also, the Chief Justice, what business does the president have in the appointment of the Chief Justice? The president should restrict himself in appointing those who are going to assist him to govern. So I think that, best practice demands that, we should have a more transparent and inclusive process in appointing heads of constitutional bodies and even corporations and so on.”