Posted by From Kunle Aderinokun in Abuja on
President John Kuffour of Ghana has asked his Nig-erian counterpart, Pre-sident Olusegun Oba-sanjo, to respect provisions of his nation's Constitution on the term of office for an elected President.
President John Kuffour of Ghana has asked his Nig-erian counterpart, Pre-sident Olusegun Oba-sanjo, to respect provisions of his nation's Constitution on the term of office for an elected President.
Kuffour who at the weekend gave a lecture at the National War College said "I am a constitutionalist and if the national constitution has prescribed a term of office, then all the people must work by the spirit and letter of the constitution."
While however advising Obasanjo to handover to a successor who would be elected after the expiration of his second tenure in 2007, Kuffuor noted that if Nigerians decide to amend the constitution to favour a three-term tenure, they have the right to do so.
The Ghanaian President, who toured the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) building yesterday in Abuja after the African Union (AU) meeting had said: "on the retirement of President Obasanjo, the constitution must be respected but the constitution is the lot of the people. What the people want to do with the constitution is their basic right.
Kuffuor argued further that the constitution also prescribes the mode of its being amended, adding, "Constitutions are made by nations to give guidelines or set the framework with which the nation must be governed. If in the wisdom of the nation, the people should decide to alter their constitution. That is their right."
Kuffour's advice to Obasanjo came three days after the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Richard Gozney said the Nigerian constitution did not support the alleged third term bid of Obasanjo.
According to Gozney, "the idea of a third term is a hypothetical one. The man high up there (President Olusegun Obasanjo) to us is a man who respects the constitution.
"He knows what the constitution says about that (third term). He has not changed the constitution and he has not told us anything regarding extension people talk about."
Speaking on corruption, Kuffour said the Ghanaian is fighting the scourge through the passage of a number of anti-graft laws that have made it "nearly impossible, if not impossibly difficult for corruption to be perpetrated".
The entrenchment of these laws, he stated, have been able to reduce corruption in the country to the barest minimum.
He disclosed that he once surrendered himself for investigation when he was allegedly to have diverted government's funds to personal use, noting that, "in Ghana, nobody has immunity against
investigation, if accused of corruption."
According to him, "government has shown its readiness to fight corruption by passing a number of laws because fighting corruption should not be left, just to individual disposition. We want to institute the mechanism for fighting corruption and government has done this by passing a law like public procurement, which states that all public procurement by public sector of certain size in terms of money must get the approval of the procurement commission.
"Without that, procurement opens itself to suspicion and the law in
in effect. We believe most of the corruption take place within the public sector procurement. That is where big money exchanges hands. If you tackle that well, you would reduce corruption by heavy percentage.
"We passed the financial administrative act and this has also enhanced efficiency in financial administration in the public sector. We've got internal audit act which for the first time in Ghana's history, is central internal audit. We have external auditors, and that has been the feature of the government. External auditors report to the parliament on past performances of government.
"We have a commission for human right and administrative justice in place.
That has been working. The interesting thing is that some members of Parliament alleged that the President had used public money to furnish private house during my administration. The members of parliament took this allegation to the commission. The commission invited me, I obliged, wrote my statement, my reply to the allegation.
"The commission invited the members of the parliament to go and substantiate their claim over a period of time but they failed to turn up because it wasn't true. I'm telling you this story to show that even the President could be summoned to answer to this commission. That's an effort to curb corruption. If the president could be brought to law this way, then who else is safe from being taken."
On whether Ghana will embark on consolidation in its banking industry, Kuffour said, "you are doing it here, Ghana too is trying to do it and the Central Bank is the pivot. When you have good management at the Central Bank, you have discipline in the sector.
We've got a governor who happens to be a friend of your government. He is coming with a very rich background in monetary management. He worked with the IMF for 30 years before coming back home. With the cooperation of the Central Bank, we are strengthening the economy."
On the achievement of the ECOWAS common currency, the Ghanaian President noted that, "I believe that the common currency is a two-tier affair. First, the second monetary zone: Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Guinea, we all agreed that we're not ready yet. There are criteria to meet. Even Nigeria is not quite ready to go and Ghana is also shaping itself very well but not ready.
"You can imagine our colleagues-Sierra Leone, which is just coming out of a conflict situation or Guinea, we are not ready, and so we kept postponing the date."
He, however, expressed hope that by 2009 West Africa will have its own currency.