CJ must be given timeframe to establish Prima Facie case – William Nyarko suggests

William Nyarko, Executive Director, ACILA

The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), Mr. William Nyarko is suggesting an amendment to the Constitution to provide a timeframe for the Chief Justice (CJ) when establishing whether a prima case exists in respect of a petition to remove an Article 146 officer holder.

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission and the two Deputy Commissioners whom petitions have been filed against are all Article 146 office holders and can only be removed from office “for stated misbehaviour or incompetence or on ground of inability to perform the [ads1]functions of his office arising from infirmity of body or mind.”

Under current law, Article 146(3) and Article 146 (4) of Ghana’s constitution do not provide a timeframe for the Chief Justice (CJ) to decide whether a prima case exists when a petition to remove an Article 146 officer holder is referred to the CJ by the president.

According to him, Ghana is a democratic state so it is important that timelines are provided on some key decisions of significant public interest.

Providing a comparative analysis of timelines in three cases on his Facebook posting, Mr. Nyarko explained that in the case of the former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mrs. Lauretta Lamptey, it took the former Chief Justice Mrs. Theodora Georgina Wood fifty-one (51) days to establish a prima facie case against the former CHRAJ Boss. She was later removed from office.

In the case of the petitions against Mrs. Charlotte Osei, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, and her two deputy Commissioners, Mr. Amadu Sulley and Mrs. Georgina Opoku Amankwah, it has taken 67 days and 64 days respectively and counting without a decision as to whether a prima facie case has been established against them.

Read his full facebook post:

Checking on the status of the petitions against Mrs. Charlotte Osei, EC Chairman and her two deputies…When is the Chief Justice likely to make a decision about whether or not a prima facie case has been established?

Tough to say because neither Article 146(3) nor Article 146 (4) provides a timeframe for a decision. Should we amend Article 146 (4) to put in a timeframe for a decision, say 28 days or less? We are a democracy so certainty is important.

So let’s look at practice, using the case of the former CHRAJ boss who was removed from office using the same Article 146 process to guesstimate a timeframe for the EC cases.