By Iddi Yire/Elsie Appiah-Osei
Accra, June 14, GNA – The Constitutional Review Consultative Committee (CRCC) has recommended that the President should pay tax on his salary and emoluments as an example to the rest of the citizenry.
“This will also reflect the principle of equality before the law and accord with the rule of law,” the draft CRCC report stated.
The content of the draft CRCC report was made known on Thursday, during the maiden public forum on it at Parliament House in Accra.
The forum was chaired by Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
Article 68 (5) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana exempts the President from the payment of income tax.
The Committee therefore recommended that Article 86 (5) should be reviewed to mandate the President of the country to pay tax.
It said the amendment of this provision would trigger the necessary consequential amendment in the income tax law of the country.
On April 28, 2023, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, under the auspices of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs inaugurated the CRCC.
The 12-Member Committee is under the Chairmanship of Madam Clara Kasser-Tee of the University of Ghana Law School of Law.
The CRCC is to review the 2011 report of the Constitution Review Commission.
It is to review submissions, proposals, and reports on various constitutional review platforms such as Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the University of Ghana School of Law, the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
It is to make recommendations to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and its partners and collaborators such as the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Africa Centre for
Economic Transformation (ACET), the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), the Institute of Democratic and Economic Governance (IDEG)and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
The Committee is to submit a report to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs on their preliminary suggestions or firm resolve for a review of the 1992 Constitution.
GNA