NCCE holds dialogue on power separation among three arms of govt
A retired Supreme Court Judge, Mr Justice V.C.R.A.C Crabbe, has debunked the perception that the Executive has an absolute power over the Judiciary and the Legislative arms of government and therefore could manipulate their actions.
He said while the President had absolute constitutional power to appoint the Chief Justice (CJ) and other personalities such as the chief executives of the various district assemblies, he did so in consultation with the 25-member Council of State.
His argument was supported by the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, who stated that there was a clear independence but interdependence among the three arms of government.
However, a former Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, strongly disagreed on the grounds that the Executive exercised a lot of influence on the other arms of government and undermined their independence.
The three personalities were panelists at the second quarterly national dialogue organised by the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) in Accra yesterday.
The panel discussion on “Balancing the powers between the three arms of government”, was aimed at engaging, educating and empowering Ghanaians to keep abreast of governance issues.
President has no absolute power
Justice Crabbe stated that there was a blend in the separation of powers among the three arms of government but each arm was jealous about its own boundaries, and therefore, would not allow the other to intrude its territory.
He said the President had the constitutional power to nominate the Chief Justice, but before he could give the warrant of office to the Chief Justice, he or she had to appear before Parliament either for approval or rejection.
“In my career, no President has ever appointed and tried to tell a Chief Justice what he or she should do,” he said, explaining that in terms of independence, “there is a governmental aspect of independence of the Judiciary and independence and integrity of the minds of the individual judges.
“This is where the independence of the Judiciary is,” he said, adding that no person or authority could tell a judge to give judgement “this way or that way.”
With regard to financial independence, Justice Crabbe said the Judiciary should have funds to operate because it did not raise taxes.
For his part, Dr Ayine said the separation of powers under the Constitution was designed to ensure balance of power of the three arms of government to foster their independence and interdependence.
According to him, none of the three arms had powers that exceeded what the Constitution had granted them to exercise.
“The balance of power is equal among the three arms of government,” he stated, also debunking the perception that the President had an absolute power to appoint the Chief Justice.
Parliament, citizens can challenge President
Dr Ayine stated that “Appointing the Justices of the Supreme Court does not amount to compromising the independence of the Judiciary.”
He pointed out that when the President nominated the CJ, Parliament could potentially reject the nominee, adding that if the President failed to follow the due process in the constitutional scheme of things, any citizen could challenge the President’s appointee.
He also refuted the perception that the Executive used the financial leverage it had to manipulate the actions of the Judiciary and the Legislature.
Curtail Executive influence
For his part, Mr Oquaye suggested that no minister of state should be appointed from Parliament as a measure to curtail the Executive influence over the Legislature.
He said majority of Members of Parliament (MPs) often aspired to be called by the President to serve as ministers, taking positions at Parliament that did not serve the interest of the people who voted them to power.
“It is time the Parliamentary career is raised to a higher status to prevent majority of MPs using it as a conduit to become ministers of state,” he said.