{"id":271809,"date":"2011-01-02T22:43:13","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T22:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/?p=44336"},"modified":"2011-01-02T22:43:13","modified_gmt":"2011-01-02T22:43:13","slug":"31st-dec-celebrations-prez-mills-must-be-removed-from-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/02\/31st-dec-celebrations-prez-mills-must-be-removed-from-office\/","title":{"rendered":"31st Dec Celebrations: Prez Mills Must Be Removed From Office"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_44337\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44337\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-44337\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/01\/02\/31st-dec-celebrations-prez-mills-must-be-removed-from-office\/jj_fire\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-44337\" title=\"jj_fire\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/jj_fire.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"470\" height=\"365\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-44337\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ex-Prez Rawlings &quot;catches&quot; fire during last year&#39;s 31st ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nThe US wing of the opposition New  Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on Parliament to discharge its  functions in accordance with Article 69 of the 1992 Constitution of  Ghana by impeaching President Mills.<br \/>\nPer a statement issued by  its Legal Committee at the weekend, the NPP-USA described as a as a  treasonable offence serious enough to warrant the removal from office of  the president the celebration of the 31st December, 1981 coup last  Friday at no less a venue than the Flagstaff House, (seat of government  and the official residence of the President of Ghana).<br \/>\n<strong>Celebration of the December 31 Treason at the Flagstaff House \u2013 The Public Officers involved must be Held Accountable<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>1<\/strong>.     Our attention has been drawn to the events held at the Flagstaff  House on December 31, 2010 by the National Democratic Council (NDC),  some ministers of state and some serving members of the security  services to commemorate and celebrate the coup d\u2019\u00e9tat of December 31,  1981.<br \/>\n<strong>2<\/strong>.    The Flagstaff House is the seat of government  and the official residence of the President of Ghana. It is a symbol of  the Presidency, the government of Ghana, and the people of Ghana. It  also encapsulates the struggles that we have endured against colonialism  and dictatorship.<br \/>\n<strong>3<\/strong>.    The President of Ghana, Dr. John  Evans Atta Mills is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer and has sworn an  oath to uphold, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the  Republic of Ghana at all times.<br \/>\n<strong>4<\/strong>.    The NDC is a  political party as defined by Article 55 of the Constitution. The NDC  enjoys State funding, including \u201cbeing given time and space on the state  owned media to present its programmes to the people.\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>5<\/strong>.     Sherry Aryittey is the Minister of Science and Technology; Zita  Okaikoi is the Minister of Tourism; Mr. Fiifi Kwetey is the deputy  minister of Finance, Hon. Afottey Agbo and Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye are  Presidential Aides.<br \/>\n<strong>6<\/strong>.    The persons mentioned in 5, have  sworn an oath to uphold, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution  of the Republic of Ghana at all times.<br \/>\n<strong>7<\/strong>.    Under the  1979 Constitution, as readopted by the 1992 Constitution, \u201cAny person  who by himself or in concert with others by any violent or other  unlawful means, suspends or overthrows or abrogates the Constitution or  any part of it commits the offence of high treason and shall, upon  conviction, be sentenced to suffer death.\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>8<\/strong>.    The  December 31, 1981 coup d\u2019\u00e9tat was an illegal, criminal enterprise  hatched by Mr. John Jerry Rawlings and his men. In so doing, they  committed the offence of high treason.<br \/>\n<strong>9<\/strong>.    The Supreme  Court of Ghana has recognized the events of 12\/31\/1981 as an abomination  and a deep stain on the consciousness of the Country. Accordingly, in  NPP v. Republic (the December 31 case), the Supreme Court held that it  was unconstitutional for the State to declare that day as a statutory  holiday.<br \/>\n<strong>10<\/strong>.    It follows that the  State and the various Constitutional organs cannot, under the  Constitution, engage in any activities designed to commemorate or  celebrate this abominable event and high treason.<br \/>\n<strong>11<\/strong>.     Nor can the State or the Constitutional organs allow the resources and  facilities of the state to be used for any such commemoration or  celebration.<br \/>\n<strong>12<\/strong>.    The orders and directives from the NPP  v. Republic case are addressed to the President of Ghana, who is the  Chief Law enforcement Officer of the country.<br \/>\n<strong>13<\/strong>.      Under Article 2 (3) of the Constitution, \u201cAny person or group of persons  of whom an order or direction is addressed by the Supreme Court, shall  duly obey and carry out the terms of the order or direction.<br \/>\n<strong>14<\/strong>.     Under Article 2 (4) of the Constitution, \u201cFailure to obey or carry  out the terms of an order or direction made or given by the Supreme  Court constitutes a high crime and shall, in the case of the President  or the Vice-President, constitute a ground for removal from office under  the Constitution.\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>15<\/strong>.    The President has failed to  enforce the orders and directives issued by the Supreme Court in the NPP  v. Republic (December 31 case).<br \/>\n<strong>16<\/strong>.    The President has  intentionally, willfully, purposefully, or negligently allowed the  \u201ctreason celebrants\u201d access to the Flagstaff House to be used for their  illegal celebrations.<br \/>\n<strong>17<\/strong>.    The President has willfully violated his oath of office, which requires him to uphold the Constitution at all times.<br \/>\n<strong>18<\/strong>.    The NDC has violated the orders and directives issued by the Supreme Court in the NPP v. Republic (December 31 case).<br \/>\n<strong>19<\/strong>.     Sherry Aryittey, Zita Okaikoi, Mr. Fiifi Kwetey, Hon. Afottey Agbo,  and Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye have violated their oath of office, which  requires them to uphold the Constitution at all times.<br \/>\n<strong>20<\/strong>.    Wherefore we call on Parliament to discharge its functions under Article 69<br \/>\nMeanwhile,  government has dismissed the call, saying it is unfounded and its  proposers ought to familiarize themselves with the Supreme Court  decision.<br \/>\nDeputy Information Minister, James Agyenim-Boateng told  Myjoyonline.com that rather than a celebration, &#8220;the wreath-laying  event to honour the memories of those who lost their lives on December  31, 1981, was not a state-sponsored event. Besides, it was attended by  individuals who believe and share in its relevance and cannot therefore  be said to be a state-organised observation.&#8221;<br \/>\nAgyenim-Boateng  explained that like all revolutions the world over, those who share in  the ideals commemorate the occasion to remind themselves that never  again must the nation allow situations to deteriorate to this length and  never again must we travel this path.<br \/>\n\u201cIt is not a celebration  per se and I think we need to correct that impression. It is unlike a  March 6 or 1st July where the public purse is committed to. I really  don\u2019t see the impeachment call in this, it is neither here nor there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US wing of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on Parliament to discharge its functions in accordance with Article 69 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana by impeaching President Mills. Per a statement issued by its Legal Committee at the weekend, the NPP-USA described as a as a treasonable offence serious enough [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-271809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>31st Dec Celebrations: Prez Mills Must Be Removed From Office - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/02\/31st-dec-celebrations-prez-mills-must-be-removed-from-office\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"31st Dec Celebrations: Prez Mills Must Be Removed From Office - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The US wing of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on Parliament to discharge its functions in accordance with Article 69 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana by impeaching President Mills. 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