Amend the constitution for presidents to pay tax – Lawyer

An Accra-based legal practitioner has joined the calls for the country’s constitution to be reviewed for people elected as presidents to pay taxes.

According to the legal luminary, he cannot understand why presidents are shielded by the constitution from paying taxes.

“Why should the ordinary Ghanaian be saddled with the payment of tax and the president whose Executive Instrument is used to introduce the tax is barred from doing same?” he argued.

“This is just not fair hence the need for some aspects of the constitution to be amended to rope the president into the tax net,” he said.

Mr Twum Barimah said this on Accra 100.5 FM’s mid-day news, Thursday, February 23, 2023, while speaking about the 30th anniversary of the existence of the 1992 Constitution.

He also called for the aspects of the Constitution that make it mandatory for 60 per cent of Members of Parliament (MPs) to be appointed Ministers of State to be scrapped.

He explained this has made the Legislature somehow subservient to the Executive arm of government over the years.

He said the MPs have lost their oversight responsibility of holding the Executive in check.

He mentioned that many of the MPs instead of holding the executive accountable to the people spend their time trying to catch the eye of the president to be appointed ministers.

This, he notes, must change for MPs to do their work as MPs for others to be appointed ministers to ensure checks and balances in the government.

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