General News of Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Source: kasapafmonline.com

Transition Act(845) too weak to address disorder, hooliganism – NPP MP

Buabeng Asamoah, MP for Adenta Constituency Buabeng Asamoah, MP for Adenta Constituency

The New Patriotic Party(NPP) Member of Parliament for Adenta Constituency, Buabeng Asamoah says the current Presidential (Transition) Act, 2012 (Act 845) ought to be strengthened further to forestall a recurrence of the disorder and administrative lapses that normally characterized period of transitions.

Mr. Buabeng argued on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM that the legal blue print that governed the transition of political power in the country still has some loopholes likely to affect subsequent transitions.

“If we don’t strengthen the law at its current state, if there is a change of government, we would face the same challenges that occurred in 2016/2017 political era.

“We still have some teething problems in the law. The Administrative General should be the most powerful person in Ghana to pursue government officials and responsible for the management of the Executive estate, assets as well as the transition process. But the office of the Administrator General is not empowered very well to take up such responsibilities.

“Section 6(3) prescribes that the out-going government should detail out all its activities into the handing over notes before it hands over power to the incumbent government, but the former administration was in breach of the law in that regard,” he said.

The Transition law was enacted to establish arrangements for the political transfer of administration from an out-going President to a democratically elected President and to provide for related matters.

The Law made provision for accountability, institutional clarity and structured time for managing the transition process to avert the challenges experienced in previous transitions.