Where is Akufo-Addo? – Minority queries

The Minority in Parliament is asking for the whereabouts of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, ranting his absence from Ghana without prior notification to Parliament is “disrespectful”.

President Akufo-Addo is currently in Belgium attending the United Nation’s Advocacy Group of Eminent Personalities on the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, in his capacity as co-Chairperson of the Group. He will leave for Germany to attend the G-20 Partnership for Africa Summit in Germany. He will return June 17, 2017.

The Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) is furious over the Presidency’s failure to officially inform Parliament ahead of the president’s foreign trip which is a Constitutional requirement. Articles 59 and 60 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana says: “The President shall not leave Ghana without prior notification in writing, signed by him and addressed to the Speaker of Parliament. 60. (1) There shall be a Vice-President of Ghana who shall perform such functions as may be assigned to him by this Constitution or by the President.”

“Mr. Speaker… the people of Ghana deserve to know the whereabouts of the No. 1 person of the country,” Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said on the floor of Parliament Wednesday. “We do not know his whereabouts.”

“The constitution says ‘prior notification’ and not an after-thought… Majority Leader where is your President and where is the official communication? Mr. Speaker the President has sworn an oath and an oath is to uphold the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and he is showing disrespect to the provisions and Article 59 and 60 of the Constitution. We must know who will act in his stead,” the MP for Tamale South opined.

The official communication was presented to the Speaker after the Minority leader’s rant.

Akufo-Addo will also be in the US. In America, President Akufo-Addo will participate and address the UN Oceans Conference, the high-level UN Conference being held in New York to support the Implementation of SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development (Life under Water). The President will also have his first formal meeting with UN Secretary General, António Guterres.

In Germany, President Akufo-Addo will pay a courtesy call on the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and participate in the G-20 Africa Partnership Summit, being held in Berlin to deliberate on Germany’s “Marshall Plan” for Africa, at the invitation of the German Chancellor.

He will also deliver a speech on the theme “Ghana, Africa’s Rising Star”, at an event organised by the Konrad Adenaeur Stiftung.

President Akufo-Addo will then pay a two-day private visit to the United Kingdom, and return to Ghana on Saturday, 17th June, 2017.