Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has added his voice to the calls by the Minority in Parliament for the Controller and Accountant General to step aside.
The demand follows a decision by Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem to contest the New Patriotic Party’s Akim Swedru Constituency parliamentary primaries.
According to Martin Kpebu, the constitution states in Article 94(3) that certain officeholders like members of the Police Service, the Prisons Service, the Armed Forces, the Judicial Service, the Legal Service, the Civil Service, the Audit Service among others cannot contest for the seat of Member of Parliament.
In this regard, the legal practitioner insists that Mr Kwaning-Bosompem must resign per the dictates of the constitution.
“The CLOGSSAG case actually says that if a civil servant becomes overt in his political affiliation, then he has to resign. It is not just about nomination alone. Let me read a part, apart from talking about the nomination, this is what it says.
“Upon a true and proper interpretation of the constitution, a member of the civil service or local government service does not have the right to remain a member of a civil service or local government service after his or her a nomination by the political party or otherwise to contest for election as a Member of Parliament.
“Moreover such a person shall resign from his or her office, immediately after his or her political activities become overt,” he said.
He clarified that once an individual publicly announces their intention to contest a political position, and begins campaigning ahead of the primaries, these are overt practices the constitution rightly spells out
The legal practitioner emphasised that the clause was not concerned about political affiliation but the public showcasing of these actions. He added that the Controller’s decision to begin campaigning was beyond redemption.
“He is already campaigning, he has a campaign team, it’s overt. Look, this is beyond redemption. He just has to go,“ he added.
Responding to the debate that the Controller and Accountant General does not fall under the civil service, he said members of a ministry are part of the civil service, emphasizing that the government accountant is part of the Ministry of Finance, hence he is a civil servant.
“What we cannot run away from is the Controller and Accountant General is a department. It is under the Ministry of Finance and members of the ministry are civil servants.
“Mr Kwaning-Bosompem, we expect him to resign first thing tomorrow [Friday] morning,” he added.
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