NPP sues Prez. Mahama

The confirmation of the acting boss of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Joseph Whittal, has sparked controversy barely five hours after the move.

President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday December 20, 2016 confirmed Joseph Whittal as the head of CHRAJ while announcing Josephine Nkrumah as the new head of the National Commission for Civic Education – NCCE.

Though the appointments were announced a few hours ago, the president’s decision to confirm Mr Whittal as the substantive CHRAJ boss appears to be a decision that may not hold for long following a decision by some persons to challenge the action in court.

A former partner at Ampem Chambers, Gabby Otchere Darko, first hinted on his Facebook wall, the intention of the party to challenge the decision of the outgoing-president in court.

Mr. Otchere Darko says the writ is seeking to ‘restrain the defeated president from using his last 16 days to impose on his successor a CHRAJ boss he didn’t even want to impose on himself‘.

In a related development, Peacefmonline.com can confirm that the New Patriotic Party has challenged the power and authority of the out-going president to make new appointments by filing a suit in court.

The writ was filed on behalf of the incoming government by Lawyer Philip Addison, who confirmed the legal action in an interview a short while ago.

According to him, though going by the letter of the law, an outgoing president has the power to make appointment until the midnight 6th of January 2017, in spirit of the law, it cannot make appointment that will tie the hand of the incoming president.