President Mahama can be petitioned to sack CHRAJ Commissioner - Lawyer

Private legal practitioner, Sampson Lardy Anyenini, has advised people pushing for the removal of the CHRAJ Commissioner, Lauretta Vivian Lamptey, over financial misappropriation to kick start the process with a petition to President John Mahama.

According to him, President John Mahama is the only public official who can initiate the formal procedure for the removal of the embattled commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.

The tenure of service of CHRAJ Commissioners is protected by the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

According to Act 456 which established the commission: “The procedure for the removal of the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner shall be the same as that provided for the removal of a Justice of the Court of Appeal and a Justice of the High Court respectively under article 146 of the Constitution”.

However, lawyer Ayenini said the President can set the process in motion.

“The way to remove a Justice of the Court of Appeal which is part of the terms and condition that the commissioners enjoy, must be the same that ought to apply," the lawyer-cum-media practitioner said.

“A petition must first go to the President, the President will refer the petition to the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice will look at it on the face and find out if a case has been made, if she determines that a case has been made, the Constitution enjoins her to set up a committee."

"The committee will then investigate the claim and forward their recommendation back to the Chief Justice and the Chief Justice will then forward that recommendation to the President,” Ayenini explained.

The CHRAJ boss has come under intense pressure to vacate her post following revelations that over $203,500 has been spent on renovating her official residence.

She is currently lodging at a hotel and paying the Cedi equivalent of $456.25 per day.