Calls for CHRAJ Commissioner to resign

as GCB board member are tenable- Vitus Azeem

The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Mr. Vitus Azeem is supporting calls for the Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ms. Lauretta Vivian Lamptey to resign, saying, she should not have waited till now to be told to resign one of the two positions she¹s holding.

His submission follows intense pressure on Ms. Lamptey to resign as a board member of the Ghana Commercial Bank, or her position as Commissioner in the next 24 hours, due to the fact that the constitution prohibits a Commissioner from occupying any other public position.

Mr. Azeem opined that the Œcommissioner cannot hold any other position since it¹s equal to an appeal court judge, and the judge at that level cannot hold any other public position¹.

Mr. Azeem indicated that the CHRAJ boss should have been advised upon appointment as Commissioner to immediately give up the position.

Meanwhile, the CHRAJ boss has downplayed calls for her to resign one of her positions. She said she doesn¹t understand why such calls are not made to ministers to resign their positions who serve on boards.

According to her, she sees nothing wrong with her holding two positions since she is only representing the interests of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) on the GCB board, and claimed that the advocacy group was quick in condemning her.

Mr. Azeem who maintained his position on the issue, made it clear that the CHRAJ boss shouldn¹t drag the matter further since she¹s been the Commissioner for 8 Months now and have been enumerated on this issue.

ŒSo I think she can even submit her resignation letter immediately, so I think it¹s something that we shouldn¹t drag further¹.

ŒThe commissioner is independent of the executive and appointing a board member is like being part of the executive, so then if the constitution hasn¹t clearly stated it then we would have a problem accepting that position¹, Vitus Azeem told Accra based radio, Joy fm.

Story by Dzifa Dogbe/ Xfm 95.1/ Accra/ Ghana