Vice-President Has Power But NO Executive Authority under the 1992 Constitution: Razak Kojo Opoku Writes

According to Article 58(1) of 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, “The Executive Authority of Ghana SHALL VEST in the PRESIDENT and shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”. This explains why since 1992, we have experienced Rawlings Government, Kufuor’s Government, Mills Government, Mahama’s Government and now Akufo-Addo’s Government. We are yet to experience Bawumia’s Government or others.

The President is also the Head of Government in accordance with Article 57 of the Constitution. The provisions of Articles 57(1) and 58(1) gives so much AUTHORITY to the President to perform the most significant critical functions as stated under Articles 31(1), 70, 72, 74(1), 75(1), 77(1), 78(1&2), 79(1), 86(2), 144, 243(1) and 256(1 & 2) of 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.

The President at all times or most instances are mandated to act in consultation with the Council of State or act in accordance with the advice of the Council of State. I stand to be corrected, there is no provision in the 1992 Constitution that mandate the President to act in consultation with the Vice-President or act in accordance with the advice of the Vice-President. Therefore, the President has every legal right to completely ignore the consultation and advice of the Vice-President when taking decisions for the Country.

Before I proceed it is essential to establish the difference between power and authority in politics and governance:

1.”Power is the ability or potential for an individual to influence others and control their behaviour”.

2. “Authority is the LEGAL and FORMAL RIGHT to give COMMANDS and MAKE DECISIONS”.

Authority supercedes Power.

The Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana only has the POWER to Influence as well as control the actions of the President. However, the President has the Final AUTHORITY to either listen to or ignore the influence and controlled-behaviour inputs by the Vice-President.

The Power of the Vice-President to influence and control the decisions of the President is very likely to fail in practice and reality. The President of the Republic of Ghana always has the Final Say.

Just like the:
1. King has Authority, and the Queen with Power. The queen can never act without the Authorization of the King.

2. Husband with Authority but the Wife with Power. The wife can never act without the Authorization of the Husband.

3. Driver with Authority but Mate, Spare Driver or Co-Driver with Power.

The Driver’s Mate and Spare Driver can never act without the Authorization of the Driver.

A Driver’s Mate is a worker who ASSISTS the Main Driver to discharge his functions.

A Spare Driver is a permanent part-time worker scheduled to work at least one shift per week and to relieve the Main Driver as required or assigned when there is a vacancy.

4. Vice-President under the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana can never act without the Authorization of the President.

According to Article 60(1) of the 1992 Constitution, “there shall be a Vice-President of Ghana who shall perform such functions as may be assigned to him by this Constitution or by the President”.

The emphasis here is “may be”. Take note that, it is not “SHALL”.

Previously, the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana assigned the following functions to the Vice-President:
(a). Chairman of the Police Council under Article 201(a).

(b). Chairman of the Prisons Service Council under Article 206(a).

(c). Chairman of the Armed Forces Council under Article 211(a).

(d). Member of the National Security Council under Article 83.

Sadly, the aforementioned specific functions that the Constitution assigned to the Vice-President under Articles 201, 206 and 211 have been amended by the repeal of paragraph(a) and the insertion of the following paragraphs:
1. Article 201(a) now states that, “a Chairman who shall be appointed by the President acting in consultation with the Council of State”.

2. Article 206(a) now states that, “a Chairman who shall be appointed by the President acting in consultation with the Council of State”.

3. Article 211(a) now states that, ” a Chairman who shall be the President or his nominee”.

Now let me conclude this write up with the Economic and Financial Authority of the President of the Republic of Ghana under the 1992 Constitution:

1.The President under Article 67 is the only person mandated to deliver to Parliament a message on the State of the Nation.

2. The President under Article 86(2) appoint the Chairman and members of the National Development Planning Commission. According to Article 87(1), the National Development Planning Commission shall advise the President on development planning policy and strategy.

3. The President under Article 179(1) shall cause to be prepared and laid before Parliament at least one month before the end of the financial year, estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Government of Ghana for the following financial year.

This means that, the President is has the Final Authority over the Fiscal Policy of Ghana.

4. Under Article 180, where it appears to the President that the Appropriation Act in respect of any financial year will not come into operation by the beginning of that financial year, the President with the prior approval of Parliament by a resolution, authorise the withdrawal of moneys from the Consolidated Fund for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the services of the Government.

5. The President under Article 183(4a) appoint the Governor of the Bank of Ghana(Central Bank).

This means that the President has the Final Authority over the Monetary Policy of Ghana.

6. The President under Articles 185(3) and 186(1) respectively appoint the Government Statistician and members of the Statistical Service Board.

This means that the President has the Final Authority over the Statistical Data of Ghana including Inflation Rates.

7. The President under Article 189(1a) appoint the Chairman and four other members of the Audit Service Board.

This means that the President has the Final Authority over the Protection of the Public Purse of Ghana.

However, let’s me state that, the supposed Economic Management Team has NO Recognition under the 1992 Constitution of Republic of Ghana. As such, the Economic Management Team has no Authority to dictate or influence the decisions of the President.

This year Presidential election is a contest between John Mahama(Who was a Driver’s Mate for 3years 6months, promoted to Spare Driver for 6months after the death of his Boss, and later became the Main Driver for 4 years), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia(who has been Driver’s Mate for 8years hoping to become the Main Driver) and other Presidential Aspirants who have never been a Driver’s Mate or Spare Driver or Main Driver before.

The Ghanaian Voters have the ultimate Choice to choose the right person on December 7th to lead this Country for the next four years after the tenure of President Akufo-Addo come to end.