IEA puts forward draft bill for peaceful transition

Page 20: June 12, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia

THE Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has put forward a draft bill to ensure a peaceful and smooth transition from one democratically elected government to another.
If enacted, it will avoid a repetition of the rancorous nature of the handing over process from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2001 which resulted in the development of deep-seated animosity between the two parties that had existed to the present time.
The bill is also expected to induce some measure of accommodation and co-operation, as well as a better and more harmonious transfer of the reins of government from one administration to another in a manner that do not introduce a strain between the winner and the loser and help forge national reconciliation, lower political tension and promote inter-party co-operation.
At a workshop in Accra yesterday to discuss the proposed bill, participants agreed on the need for a set of rules and regulations to guide the transitional process.
They also called for the establishment of a permanent secretariat to handle not only the transition process but also collate, keep and maintain an inventory of all state assets in the hands of public officials.
It came to light that during the 2001 transition process, the issue of who was in possession of what was part of the issues that made the process chaotic because there was no comprehensive asset inventory.
They also suggested that the secretariat should draw its funds from Parliament and not the Presidency.
A former Chief of Staff under the NDC government, Nana Ato Dadzie, said considerations should also be made for what would be given political appointees, as well as the privileges to be granted to former ministers who had served meritoriously.
He explained that not regulating such issues would make their implementation subject to the President’s pleasure, saying that such actions made governance processes fragile.
“They should not be subject to the emotions and moods of an individual,” he said.
He said under the proposed legislation, the President should be enjoined to list the names of special assistants or advisors, not only at the Presidency but also the ministerial level, and that the list should be submitted to Parliament each year.
A former Speaker of Parliament, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, proposed that there should be a constitutional amendment for considerable time to be given for the transition process.
He suggested that to avoid a rush in the swearing in of the President, the first meeting of Parliament should take place in the morning on January 7, while the swearing in of the President took place in the afternoon.
He disagreed with the proposal that the Chief Justice should be made the chairperson of the succession body, explaining that the Chief Justice was not to meddle in political power, hence the position not being assigned any political role in the Constitution.
Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, a former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development in the NDC regime, was of the view that if rules and regulations were outlined, what the country needed was a strong chief executive officer to administer state assets.
He said there should be a constitutional arrangement to guide incoming Presidents on where to stay, what to use, among others, to avoid hawks within parties dictating to the President.
Mr Ahwoi stressed the need for a definition of offices within the government to determine which were political and which were public service to forestall the situation where officials were uncertain of their security of tenure.
A good governance expert, Mrs Leonora Kyeremateng, said there was the need for a gap-analysis study to be conducted to determine which constitutional provisions were not being implemented.
She noted that the issue of transition remained one of the outstanding challenges confronting good governance in the country.