By Ahmed Osumanu Halid, Nima 441, Accra
The Constitution in Article 57(1) states that there shall be a President of the Republic of Ghana who shall be the Head of State and Head of Government and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ghana.
He takes precedence over all other persons in Ghana. He is the number one citizen. Everyone is under his remit.
He is the commander in chief of Ghana Armed Forces. Head of the cabinet and the nation’s national security.
He appoints all sector Ministers and their Deputies.
He appoints all the 16 Regional Ministers and if he chooses with their Deputies, and has the power to create more Ministries and other political portfolios. Neither the Parliament of Ghana headed by the Speaker nor Judiciary headed by Chief Justice can halt his intentions. He does all these in accordance to the Constitution of the Republic. He cannot act ulteravires i.e beyond the powers given to him by the Constitution.
He appoints all the nation’s ambassadors and their Deputies.
He also appoints the Chief Executive Officers of the various state enterprises.
He appoints the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.
He appoints the Chief of Defense Staff.
He appoints the Inspector General of Police, Army Commander, Airforce and Navy Commanders on the advice of the Armed Forces.
The heads of Immigration, Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority, the Prisons, the Fire Services.
The Governor of the Central Bank and his Deputies.
The Managing Directors of state banks and financial institutions such as the Ghana Commercial Bank, the National Investment Bank, the Agricultural Development Bank, the ARB Apex Bank, the Ghana Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission etc.
The President also appoints the various boards and their Members.
He appoints the largest members of the various universities” councils’. Interestingly, his nominees head the councils.
The Executive President has more powers to undertake his presidential functions.
Do you know he is the Minister of all the Ministries? Yes, he is. He can choose to terminate the appointments of all his appointees without giving any reason. He appoints and disappoints. The Constitution does not ask of it.
Currently, more than 1,255 members of his party are jostling for 260 vacant offices in the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies. He decides whom to appoint. Yes! The President.
He only asks the Parliament of the Republic to vet them ie his Ministers on his behalf so they can act or work on his behalf.
Yes, his powers can be checked by Parliament, Commissions and the Courts. What we call in Political Science as the separation of powers.
We should also remember that the Constitution tasks him to appoint majority of his Ministers from Parliament.
He appoints the umpire who manages and runs our national elections where in most cases he is a candidate or contender.
He appoints the Deputies to the Electoral Commissioner.
He appoints the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and his Deputies
The Auditor General, the District Assemblies Common Fund Administrator are appointed by him.
Some of his functions are delegated. That is he assigns them to the Ministers of state, Chief Directors and other senior public and civil servants.
The messengers at the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies are indirectly appointed by the President.
The real Executive presidency has been defined by the Constitution of our republic.
Do you now know why our elections are tension packed?
A winner of the presidential contest appoints all these citizens. The benefits he enjoys from security to feeding, clothing and all other benefits.
He has the power to cause our soldiers to go to war and other peace keeping operations.
The President in Article 72 (1) has the power to grant mercy to all manner of prisoners.
He executes or cause to be executed all Treaties, Agreements or Conventions in the name of Ghana.
I entreat all to get copies of our Constitution and read from chapter8/Article 57.
Our governance system is the hybrid ie a mixture of Presidential and Parliamentary unlike what happened in both the Busia and Liman regimes.
In Busia Regime, it was purely Parliamentary system where the Prime Minister was the head of government and also leader of the House (Parliament), all his appointees i.e Ministers were all Members of Parliament. There was only a ceremonial President.
In Liman Regime, it was a Presidential where the President headed and all his Ministers were appointed outside Parliament.
This piece is as stated, the powers every President of Ghana wields.
Is the nation ready for the amendment of the Constitution to reduce the overarching powers of the President?
My answer is yes.
God bless our nation, Ghana
