Lawyer Ace Anan Anakomah has charged the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame to start preparing high crime charges against the Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu.
According to him, the Auditor-General has failed to act constitutionally following the release of the 2021 audit report.
He said, the Audit Service Act compels the Auditor-General to disallow and surcharge those mentioned in the report but he has refused to do the needful.
Speaking on Citi TV, Monday, September 5, Ace Ankomah noted that if the Auditor-General refuses to undertake his constitutional mandate, OccupyGhana will explore three options that have been laid down by the court to compel him to do so.
"There are three options if a person defies the Constitution; under Article 2, every defiance of an order of the Supreme Court is a high crime. This means that our Attorney General should be preparing high crime charges against the Auditor-General.
"If the Constitution was to apply. Will he do it? We will write to him and ask him to do it. We will petition the Attorney General to charge him for high crime. Let's see if he will do it. If he does not do it, there is also a mandatory order of the Supreme Court – thus, defiance of the order of the Supreme Court is contempt of court, so, if they won’t do the crime, we can start the quasi-crime.
"If you are charged with a high crime and you are convicted, for ten years after the sentence, you are barred from holding public office. The protection of the Auditor-General and his independence means that he is subject to the removal procedure as Superior Court judges which means that any Ghanaian can file a petition with the President today to say that the Auditor-General has defied the Supreme Court and the President does not have a choice," Ace Ankomah explained.
He continued: "For the Article 146 procedure, the President is just a post office, he receives it, sends it to the Chief Justice (who) sets out a judicial committee; you have defied the Supreme Court; three judges of the Superior Court will listen to your matter; when they recommend that you should be removed, he gives to the Chief Justice, he does not have a say, he gives to the President, he does not have a say, you are removed. Why should we go through all of these when all the Auditor-General had to do is to issue paper, I don’t get it."
"Instead of the Auditor-General issuing the surcharge, he is rather recommending, recommended to who, when you are supposed to take the action. He is doing recommendations when the law says surcharge, is he not embarrassed that he had men and women in red at the office to tell him to do his work?" Ace Ankomah questioned.
PEN/SARA
Godfred Yeboah Dame