{"id":67728,"date":"2024-02-28T18:49:23","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T18:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/?p=67728"},"modified":"2024-02-28T15:47:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T15:47:27","slug":"minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill","title":{"rendered":"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. <\/strong><\/span>The Minority in Parliament has threatened to boycott the State of the Nation Address (SONA) over President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign the Private Member\u2019s Bill.<\/b><\/p>\n

They are yet to appear in the chamber of Parliament although President Akufo-Adoo and all other dignitaries including former President John Mahama are in the Parliament for the address.<\/p>\n

Parliamentary correspondent Komla Kluste reported that the opposition lawmakers also protested the stay of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana Dr Ernest Addison in office after he called them \u2018hooligans\u2019.<\/p>\n

The bills that the president refused to assent to were; Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2023, Criminal Offences (Amendment) (No.2) Bill, 2023, and Armed Forces (Amendment) Bill, 2023.<\/p>\n

Speaker Bagbin indicated that the President\u2019s decision not to sign the three private member\u2019s bills demonstrated his misunderstanding of the constitutional processes in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsence of a judicial determination from the Supreme Court, the President\u2019s unilateral assessment of unconstitutionality does not hold legal water. It is a departure from the established legal procedure, norms, and practices that govern our constitutional democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appropriate lawful response if there were genuine concerns about the constitutionality of the legislative action of this house would have been to seek judicial review from the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madina lawmaker Francis Xavier Sosu who sponsored the bills also accused President Akufo-Addo of acting unconstitutionally for not signing the three bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the president is acting unconstitutionally and it is the role of the speaker to tell the president in his face that he is acting unconstitutionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the bill got passed in July this year we have over five people who have already been killed again on account of witcraft accusations,\u201d he told TV3 an in interview.<\/p>\n

President Akufo-Addo while notifying Parliament of his inability to assent to the Criminal Offences Amendment Bill 2022, raised constitutional matters regarding the Bills.<\/p>\n

In the letter he wrote to Parliament \u201cI am writing to you in reference to our meeting held on the 28th of November, 2023 at my office where we discussed the outstanding bills presented for assent namely; the Criminal Offenses Amendment Bill 2023, Criminal Offences Amendment number 2 Bill 2023, and the Armed Forces Amendment Bill 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring our conversation, I raised specific constitutional concerns regarding these bills related to Article 108 of the Constitution, particularly the nature of these bills which were introduced into Parliament as private members\u2019 bills rather than being presented by me or on my behalf….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I indicated the content of these bills have my support, but we need to ensure that they are enacted in line with established constitutional and legislative process. After thorough consideration and in light of the constitutional issue I pointed out during our meeting, I am unable to assent to these bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concerns raised are significant and have profound implications for the constitutional integrity of these legislative actions. Any legislation we pass must be in complete alignment with the provisions of our Constitution. I intend to have these bills reintroduced in Parliament on my behalf in due course,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Regarding the Ghana Armed Forces Amendment Bill, President Akufo-Addo, in the letter indicated his inability to sign after citing financial implications on the state\u2019s Consolidated Fund and potential breaches of Article 108 of the Constitution as reasons for his refusal.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Ghana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. The Minority in Parliament has threatened to boycott the State of the Nation Address (SONA) over President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign the Private Member\u2019s Bill. They are yet to appear in the chamber of Parliament although President Akufo-Adoo and all other dignitaries including former President John Mahama are in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":67727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[5092,5096,429],"class_list":["post-67728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-ghana","tag-ghana"],"yoast_head":"\nMinority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill - Ghana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Minority in Parliament has threatened to boycott the State of the Nation Address (SONA) over President Nana Addo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Minority in Parliament has threatened to boycott the State of the Nation Address (SONA) over President Nana Addo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-28T18:49:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"506\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-28T18:49:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill\"},\"wordCount\":573,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Ghana\",\"ghana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill\",\"name\":\"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill - Ghana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-28T18:49:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The Minority in Parliament has threatened to boycott the State of the Nation Address (SONA) over President Nana Addo ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":506,\"caption\":\"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/\",\"name\":\"Ghana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill - Ghana","description":"The Minority in Parliament has threatened to boycott the State of the Nation Address (SONA) over President Nana Addo ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill","og_description":"The Minority in Parliament has threatened to boycott the State of the Nation Address (SONA) over President Nana Addo ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill","og_site_name":"Ghana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-02-28T18:49:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":506,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill","datePublished":"2024-02-28T18:49:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill"},"wordCount":573,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Ghana","ghana"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill","name":"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill - Ghana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg","datePublished":"2024-02-28T18:49:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The Minority in Parliament has threatened to boycott the State of the Nation Address (SONA) over President Nana Addo ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2024\/02\/sm_1709122329.349286.jpg","width":900,"height":506,"caption":"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/minority-threatens-to-boycott-sona-over-akufo-addos-refusal-to-sign-private-members-bill#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Minority threatens to boycott SONA over Akufo-Addo\u2019s refusal to sign Private Member\u2019s bill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/","name":"Ghana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}