Dzirasah criticises Attorney General

...on district level elections

Mr Ken Dzirasah, Member of Parliament for South Tongu Constituency, on Wednesday described as unacceptable a statement the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo allegedly made calling on District Chief Executives and New Patriotic Party (NPP) functionaries to ensure that the majority of those elected to the District Assemblies and Unit Committees were NPP members. He said Nana Akufo-Addo made call at a mid-year review meeting for District Chief Executives (DCEs) from the Southern Sector of the country last month in Ho.

The Member of Parliament who, was speaking at the third ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the South Tongu District assembly at Sagakope, said the Nana Akufo- Addo asserted that district level elections had always been fought on partisan basis He said as the custodian of the laws of the land it was impermissible for the Minister of Justice to make such a statement.He said by his status and stature, he needed not to be educated on basic constitutional issues since "he is the chief government legal adviser".

Mr Dzirasah, who is also the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament asked if by his action he meant that his political opponents could campaign on party lines in the July 30 district level elections. He said Article 248 Sub-Section Two of the 1992 Constitution stated that a political parties shall not endorse, sponsor, offer a platform to or in anyway campaign for or against a candidate seeking election to a district assembly or any lower and local government unit.

Mr Dzirasah said the Attorney -General was responsible for the introduction and amendment of bills and motions of laws adding it was improper for him to lead a campaign to flout the tenets of the Constitution. He, therefore, urged assembly members and the general public to resist any attempt to make the election partisan.

Mr Kofi Dzamesi, Deputy Volta Regional Minister, said government was exploring avenues of making elections at the lower local government attractive to boost democracy, decentralization and development and would, therefore, not do anything to subvert the Constitution.

Nana Akufo-Addo in statement to the Ghana News Agency said: "As Attorney General and Minister of Justice, who is entrusted with the responsibility of upholding and enforcing respect for the constitution and all other laws in the land, I am committed to discharging those responsibilities to the best of his ability.? He, therefore, categorically denied making any of the statements allegedly attributed to him.

According to him he encouraged the DCEs to endeavour to ensure that only competent people with proven track record, whom they could work with to develop their districts, were elected to the District Assemblies and Unit Committees.

The statement said: "It is undeniable fact that under the NDC, District Assembly elections were openly conducted on a partisan basis in flagrant contravention of the Constitution.

"The NPP administration is, however, committed to entrenching respect for the rule of law at the very core of the nation's body politic, and the Attorney General as the principal legal adviser to the Government will in no way advocate any course of action which will flout the law?, the Attorney General declared. He said the allegations were malicious intended to score cheap political points.