Travelling abroad doesn't stop Akufo-Addo from being president - Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu opposes power transfer

The Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for the Suame Constituency, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has questioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo about his inability to perform his duties as president to the nation when he travels out.

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, also asked with concern, what prevents Akufo-Addo from seeing to the affairs of Ghana when he travels out for international events and duties as the President of Ghana.

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu's concern comes on the back of President Akufo-Addo transferring his presidential powers to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia to act in his stead whenever he went abroad.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, the MP for Suame declared that the action of the president as incorrect since he travels on behalf of the country as the sovereign ruler.

"Whenever the president is absent from Ghana or is for any other reason unable to perform functions of his office, Mr. Speaker, it presupposes that if the president is absent from Ghana, he is unable to perform the functions of presidency; which we all know is incorrect.

"Mr. Speaker, so when you come to 11, it provides that where the president and vice president are both unable to perform the functions of the president, the Speaker of Parliament shall perform those functions until the president or vice president is able to perform those functions.

"The critical issue is, mere travelling outside the jurisdiction, does that amount to inability to perform the functions of the office of the president? It doesn't. Mr. Speaker, in any event, he is there as the President of the Republic and is performing the functions of his office," the Majority Leader said.

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu subsequently called for a review of the 1992 Constitution positing that it produced so many uncertainties.

"I think that Mr. Speaker, it should be part of our engagement. It is the reason why some of us are proposing a holistic review of this constitution because there are so many things that really, come to think of it, are incongruous with reality," he said.

President Akufo-Addo is currently out of the country to attend to international duties and has transferred his presidential powers to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.

You can also catch up on the third episode of Everyday People below:





You can also watch this episode of People & Places here:





ABJ/SARA