Money won't dictate frequent Council of State sittings – Hamid

Money will not be the motivation for members of the Council of State to meet more than the minimum four times a year, as stipulated by law, to advise President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Information Minister and presidential spokesperson Mustapha Hamid has said.

Mr Akufo-Addo, swearing in the council in Accra on Monday, 27 February, said there was a lot of work awaiting the council and, thus, urged them to meet quite often so as to get government machinery running.

“Members of the Council, Article 92 (1) of the Constitution requires the council to meet, at least, four times a year. At the moment, I fear there is a lot of work piled up for the council and it might well turn out to be more like four times in a week that the council meets to be able to deal with the work on its table,” the president urged.

But there are fears that the regular meeting of the council will come at a huge cost to the state as members will have to be paid an allowance per sitting.

However, speaking on 505 on Class91.3FM on Monday, Mr Hamid refuted the assertions, stating: “These are noblemen. Look at the array of people – Nana Otuo Siriboe and co, people who have served this nation for years – you think money is their motivation? Money is not their motivation. There is not one of them who has not served this nation in some capacity. Some of them as long as 20 and 30 years. These are very experienced people, very resourced people, so if outside of the stipulated time the president requires them to meet and give him advice, I don’t believe that they are people who are going to demand for money in order to do that.”