Prof. Stephen Kwaku Asare, a Ghanaian citizen has filed an action at the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of Speaker of Parliament, Peter Ala Adjetey, as acting president.

According to Professor Asare, the purported swearing-in of Mr Ala Adjetey as acting President of Ghana on Monday, February 25, was inconsistent with or is in contravention of the 1992 Constitution and is therefore unconstitutional.

The appointment of Mr Ala Adjetey is therefore void and of no effect, he contended. The plaintiff is therefore seeking a perpetual injunction to restrain Mr Ala Adjetey and any other person, succeeding to the office of Speaker Parliament from performing the functions of President of the Republic of Ghana, except in the event of the President and the Vice President being unable to perform the function of the President.

The action was filed by the plaintiff’s counsel, Dr. P.E. Bondzi-Simpson. Professor Asare in his application said, on January 7, 2001 His Excellency, Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, was sworn-in as the President of Ghana, by the then Chief Justice, His Lordship Kobina Abban, pursuant to Article 53 (3) of the 1992 constitution.

On Monday, February 25, 2002, it was reported extensively in the print and electronic media that the President was about to travel to Singapore and then to Australia to perform various duties in his capacity as Head of State and Head of Government.

In Singapore, President Kufuor was to meet the President and also the prime Minister of Singapore, and in Australia he was to attend a Conference of Commonwealth Heads of State and Governments.

According to the plaintiff, the same media that reported the President’s impending travels also reported that in the light of the Vice President’s absence from Ghana, due to his earlier travel on a Hajj to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the Speaker Mr Ala Adjetey was to be sworn in to perform the duties of President.

The Speaker, he noted was in fact purportedly sworn-in to perform the functions of President in a ceremony that took place in Parliament house, Accra, spanning the late hours of Sunday, February 25, 2002.

The plaintiff argued that the effect of the swearing-in of the Speaker to perform the functions of President is that, if not declared unconstitutional, void and of no effect, there would be two Presidents for the Republic of Ghana.

According to him, “a situation of dual Presidency creates, and is a recipe to creating untold chaos and confusion”. He said during the Presidency of Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings between 1993 and 2001, on two occasions, a similar situation occurred when the then Speaker, Mr Justice D.F. Annan was sworn-in to perform the duties of President.

The appointment of the Speakers by both the previous government and the present government, he said, were in all likelihood and most probably done innocently under the mistaken appreciation and misapprehension of the law.

According to the plaintiff, the facts aforementioned and the circumstances surrounding the appointment of Mr Ala Adjetey to perform the duties of President, are so notorious and well known that the honourable and august Supreme Court might take judicial notice of them.

He said Article 60 of the Constitution is silent on the situation where both the President and the Vice President are absent from Ghana at the same time. The plaintiff argued that the silence of the Constitution on the situation where the President and Vice President are absent form Ghana at the same time is nevertheless no reason to act unconstitutionally, even if the unconstitutional act was performed innocently.

When GRi contacted the Plaintiff in London, he said "it is incumbent on all of us to ensure that the provisions of the constitution are adhered to at all times".