A National Executive Committee (NEC) member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Wonder Victor Kutor, has slammed the Managing Editor of the Daily Searchlight newspaper, Kenneth Kuranchie, over his suit against former President John Dramani Mahama, challenging his eligibility to contest again as president.
 
Wonder Kutor, who is a lawyer, expressed surprise at the suit and further said that Ken Kuranchie could be wasting the time of the Supreme Court with the reliefs he is seeking.

While acknowledging that it is the right of Kuranchie, pursuant to Article 2 (1) and Article 130(1) of the 1992 Constitution, to invoke the exclusive original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, he believes that the suit is dead on arrival.

He said the writ and the reliefs being sought by Kuranchie stems from Article 68 (2)  which states that: “A President shall not, on leaving office as president hold any office of profit or emolument except with the permission of parliament in any establishment either directly or indirectly other than that of the state.”

Wonder Kutor contended that Article 68(2) does not affect public offices.

He mentioned “one of the linguistics Canon of interpretation: Expressio Unius est exclusio Alterius, to wit, the express mention of one thing excludes the other. Article 68(2) says establishment other than that of the state. Thus, the establishment there refers to private entities only.”

Speaking as a panelist on GHOne TV’s Morning Show in Accra, Wonder Kutor indicated that he does not see what Ken Kuranchie is seeking to achieve except his right, which is enshrined in Article 2(1) and Article 130 (1) which is to invoke the exclusive original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to inteprete and enforce the constitution.

He further argued that when the literal meaning of a text doesn't lead to absurdity, there is no need to bother the court.

“If you are a former president and want to contest as president, that office, is it not an office of the state?“ he asked.

In view of this, the NDC lawyer explained that the office of president is an office of the State which does not require any parliamentary authority to occupy, pursuant to Article 68(2).

“The former president is not seeking to go into any private business to seek profit but just an office he has occupied before, so, what is the problem?” he quizzed.
 
According to him, the interpretation of the constitution must always be to uphold the fundamental values of it and that the words used in Article 68 (2), which include ‘establishment’ refers to “being in private business, which the former president is not seeking to engage in, but rather an office of the State, herein Office of the President.”

He added that “In fact, if you read Article 57, it states that the president is the first gentleman of the land, which means the president is an employee of the state and not a private business engagement.”

AE/DA