AFAG calls for ‘impeachment’ of President Mills

Some members of pressure group Alliance for Accountable Governance, (AFAG) are calling for the application of appropriate legal actions, including impeachment to be taken against President John Evans Atta Mills.

They say the president has subverted the constitution of the republic of Ghana by instructing the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, to provide every support needed for AFAG and all other groups wishing to embark on a demonstration when a court of competent jurisdiction had ruled otherwise.

Following a 30% increment on all petroleum prices in the country in April, AFAG issued a two week ultimatum to government on June 9, to drastically reduce the prices of fuel and increase workers’ salaries or it will avail itself “to all constitutional remedies including nationwide mass protest”.

The group thus scheduled July 2, 2009 to embark on the said demonstration but the Police Service failed to grant it permit, citing inadequate personnel and logistics to provide security for the demonstrators.

AFAG, disgruntled with the stance of the Police Service, wrote back to the law enforcement agency and expressed its displeasure with the reasons given by the police, describing it as “flimsy and very infertile”.

The Police subsequently proceeded to court and received a court order prohibiting AFAG from embarking on the demonstration.

Following reports that the police had asked AFAG to abandon its plans to embark on its demonstration against the government, President Mills on Monday June 29 instructed the Inspector General of Police, Paul Tawiah Quaye to provide the requisite support to AFAG and all other groups seeking to demonstrate against the government.

AFAG however says, by his instruction to the IGP, the president has breached the laws of the land.

Samuel Awuku, a leading member of the group told Citi News on Tuesday that president’s action is tantamount to a “rape of our constitution”

He said: “What the president is seeking to do is to set aside the rulings of a court and that amounts to a breach of our constitution.

The President has no right, no legal right, no moral right, no right whatsoever under our constitution to set aside the decision of a court.

That will amount to raping our constitution and we would not be part of this illegality or scheme to help rape our constitution.”

Another member of AFAG, Frances Asiam also told Citi News on Tuesday that she believes “that some political confusion and gimmick were at play” on the matter.

She added that if the president has flouted the constitution, then the appropriate legal sanctions must be applied even to the point of impeachment.

“If the president has subverted the constitution…what are the remedies for subverting our constitution? If it is impeachment so be it; if criminality is established.” She said

Meanwhile, Presidential spokesperson, Mahama Ayariga has told Citi News that President Mills’s directive to the Inspector General of Police does not in any way constitute a subversive act.

He said the President’s, by his action has rather demonstrated a commitment to promoting the fundamental human rights in the provisions of the constitution.

Speaking from Libya where President Mills is currently attending the 11^th Summit of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the 13^th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, Mahama Ayariga explained that since the Police operates directly under the executive arm of government, it is not out of place for the president to instruct the IGP to allow for the demonstration to take place.

He added that the court did not prevent AFAG from embarking on the demonstration but rather it was the police service which sought to get the backing of the court to restrain AFAG from embarking on the demonstration due to logistical and personnel constraints.

For that matter, Mahama Ayariga explains, that it is not out of place for the President to instruct the police to rescind its decision.

By: Samuel Osei/citifmonline.com