President Mills nominated the Council of State member representing the Brong Ahafo Region as his campaign manager when he recently launched his bid to become the flagbearer for the NDC for the 2012 general elections.
However, the centre, which has also sued the Attorney-General and Mr. Owusu-Acheampong, wants an injunction against the President’s Campaign Manager ‘for holding himself out as such’.
In a writ signed by the head of the centre, Dennis Ofosu-Appiah of Koi- Larbi & Co. Chambers in Accra, it said it wanted a declaration that the appointment of Mr. Owusu-Acheampong by the President as his campaign manager and his acceptance of it are ‘inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution.’
The plaintiff also wants the Supreme Court to issue an order of prohibition deploying the member of the Council of State for any partisan undertaking.
On May 6, 2011, the President appointed a member of the Council of State who is the second defendant to chair his campaign team.
It said it was the plaintiff’s respectful view that the Council of State member had a constitutional mandate to counsel the President in the performance of his duties. The plaintiff stated that the appointment of the second defendant to manage the Mills campaign was not part of the President’s duty under the 1992 Constitution.
According to the writ, since Mr. Owusu Acheampong represents a region and not a political party, becoming the President’s campaign manager thus ‘puts him in active political affairs and deceives his representation thereby creating potential disaffection among the people he is supposed to represent who are of different political persuasions or none at all.’
The head of the Centre for Constitutional Order, Dennis Ofosu-Appiah, told journalists that he foresaw a problem if other members of the council took a cue from what the president had done and decided to join the campaign teams of other political parties.
He told Joy Fm ‘members of the council cannot do active partisan politics because of their standing in our body politic in the sense that they are supposed to counsel the president in the performance of his duties.’
He therefore wants the Supreme Court to declare Mr. Owusu-Acheampong’s appointment null and void.
But Mr. Owusu-Acheampong said he was unperturbed by the suit and that the courts should be allowed to pronounce on the matter.
‘It is their right to try to do what they want but the law would have to take its course. It is what the law will say that is important to me,’ he told Joy Fm.
Mr. Owusu-Acheampong said, ‘I have every right to be a chairman of the campaign team because being a member of the Council of State does not preclude me from being a campaign team manager.’
Asked whether he was going to continue his work as a campaign manager of President Mills, Mr Owusu-Acheampong answered in the affirmative, insisting, ‘I am going to go ahead… I am in Brong Ahafo. I am coming to Accra [and we will consult our lawyers to see how best we can handle this one.’
According to him, the campaign which will run for two months will not prevent him from performing his duties as a Council of State member.
By Fidelia Achama
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