No legal basis for impeachment moves by Minority — Yaw Oppong

A legal practitioner, Mr Yaw Oppong, has said moves by the minority to impeach President John Dramani Mahama, for allegedly receiving a Ford expedition gift from a Burkinabe contractor has no legal basis.

But he said if the emergency recall of Parliamentarians is for the purposes of looking into the allegation of bribery in respect of the Ford vehicle, then that would not be an exercise in futility.

“However, if it will be to ground an impeachment proceedings, then it will be an exercise in futility,” Mr Oppong told the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra yesterday.

More than 100 minority MPs have reportedly signed a petition to commence an impeachment process against the President for accepting the gift but the lawyer said the act occurred in 2012 and for that matter President Mahama could not be impeached.

He said executive authority was vested in the President, which is exercised within a period of four years.

“In my view, any act of the President or the Executive which is likely or in fact brings the high office of the president into disrepute may be a ground for his removal or impeachment.

“My view is that it should only be an act or a conduct that he has engaged in under that particular term on which a ground for removal or impeachment may be founded.

“So in the present case, we agree or there is evidence that the Ford Expedition was received on his behalf sometime in 2012. 

“If it is confirmed that at the time of receiving it he was President after the death of President Mills, then the grounds for removal could have been made in that era.

“Now my point is that act even if it constituted a misconduct and a ground for his removal, we cannot bring it under the current dispensation because that term which ended in 2012 is in fact, non existent anymore.

He queried, “if President Mahama had lost the 2012 election, will we be calling for his removal now?” and answered “Obviously no.”

He, therefore argued that, if the conduct in 2012 constituted a misconduct and, an offence it could only be the subject of a criminal or appropriate case, civil action against him within three years after he has ceased to be President.

However, as he continues to be President, such act or such proceedings cannot be commenced against him in court.

Mr Oppong stressed that he was not against any member of Parliament asking for a probe to be made either by a joint committee of parliament.

No one can impeach President?

Asked if he was implying that the President could not be impeached because he was in office, Mr Oppong answered in the negative and explained that “the President can be impeached on the grounds that his act or conduct has brought the high office of the presidency into disrepute, he has engaged in act that is against his oath of office.

“But the point is the act must be an act that he had engaged in at the time of serving under a particular dispensation.

For instance, he said one of the judges caught in the Anas tape escaped the law because he was on retirement at the time the petition was made against him.

Parliament

Parliament is set to reconvene today, September 1, 2016, over the controversial Ford vehicle gift given to President Mahama by a Burkinabe contractor.

The Speaker of Parliament was reported to have sent a message to Members of Parliament asking them to report to the House on Thursday September 1, to deliberate on the issue.

The Speaker's message is in pursuance of Article 112 (3) of the 1992 Constitution and order 38 (1) of the standing orders of Parliament.

President Denies

Counsel for President Mahama, Mr Tony Lithur, is asking the Commission on Human Rights and Administration Justice (CHRAJ), to dismiss allegations of conflict of interest levelled against the President.

There are three separate petitions against President Mahama over allegations of a Ford Expedition gift donated by a Burkinabe contractor. Two of them are from the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and the Youth Wing of the Convention People’s Party (CPP).

But in a response dated July 18, 2016, signed by Mr Lithur, lawyer for President Mahama and, addressed to acting Commissioner of CHRAJ, the President said he was innocent of allegations levelled against him.