Sitting Ghanaian Presidents Should Disclose Serious Illnesses

They Suffer From

By Otchere Darko

On Thursday, 9th August 2012, I posted an article at this site asking some questions concerning the death of President Mills; and followed those questions with a suggestion that the government should refer the death of the late President to a coroner. Today, I am going to ask a few more questions concerning the same death and follow these questions with additional suggestions that aim at improving the effective governance of Ghana. Today’s questions are as follows below:-

(1) Do we have a medical doctor among the group of staff attached to the office of the President of Ghana?

(2) If the answer to this question is yes, where was that doctor on the fateful Tuesday that President Mills died?

(3) If the answer to the first question is no, why do we not have a medical doctor at the presidency to offer immediate medical attention to the President or any member of his staff, as well as to travel with the President to wherever he goes?

(4) Should the President of Ghana consider his health as “a private matter” that does not need to be disclosed to the Ghanaian public, including the electorate that put him where he is, especially where the President suffers from a serious illness that can affect his efficiency?

(5) Even though Clause (1c) of Article 69 of the 1992 Constitution states that the President shall be removed from office if he is found “to be incapable of performing the functions of his office by reason of infirmity of body or mind”, should the constitution not have spelt out more precisely what illnesses should fall under this clause?

(6) Assuming that the illnesses, the suffering of which a sitting President of Ghana can be removed are spelt out more precisely in a future amendment to the 1992 Constitution and subsequently it becomes widely believed that a sitting President is suffering from one of such illnesses, should he not be mandated by the constitution to inform Parliament to enable that House to take steps to remove him, without leaving Parliament and the whole nation in limbo?

(7) Where a sitting President fails to disclose a terminal illness or any one of the other serious illnesses that reduce or have the potential to reduce the effectiveness of the President, to enable Parliament to perform its constitutional duties specified under clause (1c) of article 69 of the 1992 Constitution, should the constitution not be amended to empower a specified number of ordinary concerned Ghanaian citizens to exercise their civic responsibilities as citizen of Ghana to apply to the High Court, or better still, to apply to the Supreme Court for an order to compel the President to step down, if the court is convinced that there is overwhelming evidence that the President is “incapable of performing the functions of his office by reason of infirmity of body or mind”?

Readers are invited to critically review the views expressed in this article and offer suggestions that can help this country to find ways to control the exercise of executive powers and improve the governance of the nation. Below are the writer’s own suggestions which are based solely on the seven questions above:-

(a) If there is no medical doctor among the staff at the presidency to attend to the immediate medical needs of the President and his staff at the presidency, as well as to travel with the President whenever he is on a domestic tour or leaves Ghana on a foreign duty, then it is strongly suggested that President Mahama should immediately appoint a ‘fitting’ medical officer to join his staff at the presidency. In case the President has no power under the current constitution to appoint a medical officer to join his team, then the constitution should immediately be amended to make it possible for the President to do so.

(b) A sitting President, who is the first servant of the state, is required by convention to set a good example for other top Ghanaian office holders to emulate by deeming it as a moral duty for him to inform the public about any serious illness that affects him, or that has the potential to reduce the effective performance of his official duties. In view of the fact that a sitting Ghanaian President may feel he is under no moral obligation to disclose to the public through Parliament any such serious illness he suffers from, the 1992 Constitution should be amended to allow a provision to be inserted to establish a constitutional law that compels him [the President] to disclose to the Ghanaian public through Parliament any serious illness that affects, or that has the potential to affect the effective performance of his official duties.

(c) Where a sitting President suffers from a terminal illness or any other illness that is affecting, or that has the potential to affect the effective performance of his official duties, he should resign as soon as the facts of his conditions become known to him. Since the 1992 Constitution does not make it mandatory for a sitting President in such situation to resign, there is need for an amendment to be made to the constitution to compel the President to inform Parliament about any serious illness that may render him “incapable of performing the functions of his office” to enable the latter to remove him from office in accordance with the provisions of clause (1c) of article 69 of the 1992 Constitution.

(d) The suggested amendment above should also include a provision that mandates Parliament to request a medical proof of good health devoid of any serious illness that can render a newly elected President of Ghana or his Vice “incapable of performing the functions of his office by reason of infirmity of body or mind”, before the newly elected President, or the Vice can be confirmed by Parliament and sworn in by the Chief Justice.

(e) Where it is widely believed that a sitting President is suffering from a terminal illness or any other illness that is affecting his efficiency as the president of Ghana and yet the sitting President has failed to disclose it to Parliament within a stipulated period of time, he should be compelled to leave office in accordance with clause (1c) of article 69.

(f) Where as a result of the size of the parliamentary majority of the party in power, it is impossible for the provisions of clause (1c) of article 69 of the constitution to be implemented by Parliament, a reasonable number of concerned Ghanaians should be mandated to apply to the Supreme Court for a declaration that the sitting President is breaching a constitutional provision and, therefore, by virtue of powers vested in the Supreme Court by the constitution as duly amended, the court is ordering him [the sitting President] to leave office. When such a court order is made, the sitting President should lose his office and should accordingly be immediately replaced by the Vice President who should, also, be immediately sworn in by the Chief Justice.

Otchere Darko.