Speaker Adjaho acts as President
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, was yesterday sworn in as acting President in the absence of the President, Mr John Mahama, and the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, from the country.
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The President is in Mali to witness the swearing in of the newly elected President of that country, while Mr Amissah-Arthur is on holidays outside the country.
Mr Adjaho’s position as acting President is not expected to last for more than three days.
The Presidential Oath and the Oath of Allegiance were administered by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, at 9.33 a.m., yesterday, amidst cheers from Members of Parliament and shouts of “reshuffle”.
Article 60 (11) of the 1992 Constitution states: “Where the President and the Vice President are both unable to perform the function of the President, the Speaker of Parliament shall perform those functions until the President or Vice President is able to perform those functions or a new President assumes office, as the case may be.”
Article 60 (12) states: “The Speaker shall, before commencing to perform the functions of the President under clause (11) of this article, take and subscribe the oath set out in relation to the office of President.”
Congratulatory statements
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebo Barton Oduro, who sat in the Speaker’s Chair, expressed gratitude to the Chief Justice for discharging her constitutional duty and congratulated Mr Adjaho on his “elevation”.
The Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said he had always been glad that the current Speaker of Parliament had once been an MP and that the current President had also once been a member of the House.
The combined experience of both of them (Mr Adjaho and Mr Mahama), he said, “should find expression in our national development efforts.
He said as Speaker of Parliament, Mr Adjaho knew the problems confronting the House and expressed the hope that now that he had become acting President, he would take steps to address the problems, although his “presidency” would last only a few days.
The Leader of Government Business in Parliament, Dr Benjamin Bewa-Nyog Kunbuor, also congratulated Mr Adjaho and said three days as President might be short but might prove “very decisive”.
He urged Mr Adjaho to “take off his cloak” of Speaker of Parliament and assume his position as the number one citizen of Ghana.
Adjournment
Dr Kunbuor expressed gratitude to MPs for responding to the call for an emergency sitting and the Speaker and his two deputies for their devotion to duty.
He also praised the parliamentary staff and the media for the hard work exhibited.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu re-echoed some concerns he had raised during the three-day period with regard to the failure of the leadership to inform members of the agenda for the emergency sitting, saying the matter should not be taken lightly.
By Mark-Anthony Vinorkor/Daily Graphic/Ghana