Council Of State Irrelevant..We Are Just Servicing Their Comfort - Atik
General Secretary of the People's National Convention (PNC), Atik Mohammed is advocating for the scrapping of the Council of State, the body which counseled President John Dramani Mahama to free the Montie 3.
The Council of State is a small body of prominent citizens, analogous to the Council of Elders in the traditional political system, which advises the President on national issues.
Articles 89 to 92 of the 1992Constitution under which it was established states; "There shall be a Council of State to counsel the President in the performance of his functions."
But to the PNC Gen Secretary, the body is "irrelevant to our democracy” since Ghanaians are only servicing their comfort.
His comment follows an assertion from a member of the Council of State that anybody who is not happy with the decision to free the Montie 3 should go to court.
According to Nana Kodua Kesse, the Oyokohene of the New Juaben, a member of the Council of State, their recommendation to the President was made after a careful consideration of the various dynamics involved in the case.
He said "for the Council of State, we have done our work according to the provision of the constitution. If anybody feels that we have breached the constitution they can go to court for interpretation. The president has been giving pardon to prisoners every year; are they also not prisoners? What is so peculiar about the Montie three, what is so peculiar about the pardon the president has given them, it is his prerogative. I am not surprised about the public backlash because everyone is entitled to their opinions. There are those who are hiding behind their political parties and they are saying a lot of things, for us in the Council of State we have done our work”.
Contributing to a panel discussion on PeaceFM's "Kokrokoo" Thursday, Atik Mohammed told Kwami Sefa Kayi host of the show that President Mahama would have gone ahead to free the Montie 3 if he wanted no matter the recommendation of the Council of State.
“We should scrap the institution of the Council of State…it is irrelevant to our democracy and to our body politics…saying that the petition was forwarded to the Council of State is neither here nor there because the Council of State can advise the President not to free them and he can go ahead to free them…we are just servicing the comfort of the Council of State…I don’t know their work," he stated.
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