Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu is not coming to terms with President Akufo-Addo’s statement of listening to the counsel of his advisors but failed to sack Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister the all the Majority Members of Parliament asked him to do so.
According to the lawyer, the President’s comments during Tuesday’s State of the Nation address (SONA) that only an unwise Presidents thinks he has all the solutions and does not heed advice was suggestive that he takes cue from advise from people who matter when it comes to governance.
However, that counsel he refused to take is making him wonder if his deeds are not contradictory to the statement he made in Parliament Tuesday, February 27, 2024.
“He says that it is only an unwise President who doesn’t listen to advice. He says it will be an unwise President that will pretend to have all the answers. So he is either referring to Bawumia or he is saying he is an unwise President. So it’s binary. Either he is referring to Bawumia or he is an unwise President,” Martin Kpebu said on the KeyPoints Saturday, February 02, 2024.
During the delivery of the SONA, President Akufo-Addo said “it would be an unwise President that would pretend to have all the answers, and refuse the advice of his officials, but the fact remains that the President holds the executive power.
“The Cabinet, the Ministers of State all act in an advisory manner. Of course, a member of the government might take an idea, be it generated by the President or the official or a committee, and turn it into a huge success, and the honours would be claimed or shared where public perception falls.
“But, ultimately, the President is responsible, and, therefore, takes the credit or the blame for whatever happens in his or her government. Let me make a second point. The programmes that come from the Executive benefit from the rigorous public examination and debates to
which they are subjected,” President Akufo-Addo added.
Reacting to the statement, Mr. Kpebu said he senses some inconsistency or the President is telling Ghanaians he is unwise.
“As he said he has been taking all the advice, that sounds some inconsistency. So let’s go back to the point earlier that the whole of the Majority caucus 137 MPs advised him, sack ofori-atta and he said no you wont sack him. Because you said it is only unwise President who doesn’t take the advise of his officials. He said it. You open to the ministry of Finance website you see Ofori-Atta’s family making money when we borrow so they tell you there is conflict of interest you say no,” he indicated.
