A former member of the Council of State, Reverend Dr Nii Amo Darko, has debunked assertions that members of the council are “errand boys” for the president.
According to him, members of the council played a pivotal role in advising the president on a number of issues affecting the development of the country.
The Majority Leader of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, last Wednesday, described the members of the council as mere “errand boys” for the president.
According to Mr Bagbin, the council was only ceremonial and under the thumb of the president.
“I don’t support the current Council of State as presently structured and constituted, because it’s just an appendage of the executive arm, you will see often the members of the Council of State acting as representative of the president at various functions,” Mr Bagbin said while suggesting that the council should be made a second chamber.
But speaking on the Citi Eye Witness on Thursday, Rev Darko, who is a member of the Governing Board of the National Peace Council (NPC), disagreed with Mr Bagbin, saying: “We are not an appendage, we are not errand boys.”
“Of course there have been occasions where Council of State members have stood in the stead of the president; I believe that is an honour. It doesn’t make them members of the executive or errand boys”, he said.
Rev Darko said the framers of the Constitution in their own wisdom couched the council and gave it a role of being an advisory unit which depicted our traditional setting where the president acted like a king and the council as advisers.
As to whether or not to make it a second chamber, Rev Darko said: “That depends on all of us as a country.”
With regards to the appointment of members of the Council of State, it will be recalled that the Institute of Economic Affairs Winner-Takes-All Advisory Committee last week at a press conference recommended that the President should be limited to appointing three members only.
The remaining eight, the committee recommended, should be nominated by civil society organisations including religious groups, professional bodies and business groups to ensure inclusiveness as well as increase effectiveness.
Alternatively, the committee recommended that the Council of State should be formally reconstituted into a Second Chamber of Parliament which will comprise mainly technocrats and renowned statesmen and women.
The Advisory Committee further proposed that to promote accountability and effectiveness, the Council of State must submit quarterly reports to the Ghanaian public on its activities.
