No president can destool a chief — Akufo-Addo
The 2016 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says if President Mahama had bothered to read the Constitution, he would have apprised himself of the fact that ‘the President of the Republic does not have the power to destool a chief.’
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Nana Akufo-Addo said this in response to comments made by President Mahama, while while the latter was campaigning in Suhum, that, “Nananom, if Akufo-Addo becomes President and you criticise him, he will destool you.”
These remarks by President Mahama, according to the NPP flag bearer, point to the fact that the President has no campaign message and has resorted to the politics of scaremongering and untruths in his bid for re-election.
“Does our President understand the laws governing our country? Has he bothered to read our Constitution? No President has the power to destool a chief. Ghana has gone past the era where a sitting President could destool a chief. Judicial Committees of Traditional Councils are the only ones who can destool a chief, and not a President,” the NPP flag bearer noted.
According to Nana Akufo-Addo, as far back as the 60s, his father, then Chief Justice Edward Akufo-Addo, as Chair of the 1969 Constitutional Commission, enshrined in the 1969 Constitution, ‘The institution of Chieftaincy is guaranteed under the Constitution,’ a provision which subsequent Constitutions have incorporated.
This, the NPP flag bearer explained, is the reason chiefs are debarred from engaging in partisan politics and, at the same time, governments debarred from meddling in chieftaincy affairs.
Thus, as President, “you should be abreast of the Constitution of the Republic and have it at your fingertips. President Mahama can’t even read and understand the Constitution. He just gets up and makes unfortunate comments.”
Akufo-Addo explained further: “I have so much respect for the chieftaincy institution. My ancestry, including my late grandfather, the Okyenhene, Nana Ofori Atta I, and my own mother, who became the queen mother of Kyebi, means I have respect for the institution. I am not the one coming to disrespect them.”
The NPP flag bearer continued, “President Mahama says when I become President, I am going to drive away Muslims, residents in Zongos, among other things. He will never say to the people what his vision for them is or his record. Even at the launch of the NDC manifesto, all President Mahama did was to talk about me. He had to be prompted before remembering that he was to talk about the contents of his manifesto,” he added.
Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated his belief that recent utterances by President Mahama, coupled with his actions and inaction over the last eight years, point to a President who appears to have little understanding of democracy.
The NPP flag bearer noted that comments by President Mahama to the effect that continually changing governments for new ones stall development is another case in point.
"If changing governments was bad, why did he and his party agitate for the change of the NPP government in 2008, which was doing much better than the current NDC government? Changing the government was good for him in 2008, but when the time has come for Ghanaians to change government in 2016, it's now a bad thing," Akufo-Addo stated.
The NPP flag bearer explained that it was for a good reason that Ghana's Constitution directed that elections should be held every four years, providing the electorate with the opportunity to review the record of the incumbent and, if dissatisfied, bring in a government that will do a job for the wellbeing of the citizenry.
Nana Akufo-Addo made this known on Thursday, November 3, 2016, while campaigning in the Assin Central Constituency on the last day of his three-day tour of the Central Region.
