We’ll prohibit illegal sale of state property — Srem-Sai

The Deputy Minister designate for Justice and Attorney-General, Justice Srem-Sai, has said he will “wholeheartedly” back the enactment of legislation to prohibit politically-exposed persons and serving public officials from the illegal purchase of state property.

He said when given the approval, he would support the Attorney-General to push for such legislation to stop appointees from short-changing the state.

The nominee was responding to a question when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for his vetting.

Mr Srem-Sai, who is also a law lecturer at the University of Ghana, said: “I will wholeheartedly” support the minister to push for such legislation to bar illegal acquisition of state assets.

Ex gratia

When a member of the committee, Patrick Yaw Boamah, sought the view of the nominee on the decision by the government to scrap ex gratia listed under Article 71 appointees, Mr Srem-Sai said that the government could embark on the long process of amending the Constitution which required a referendum.

The nominee said that the Constitution itself did not prescribe any formula for determining the emoluments and entitlements of persons under the article.

He said the Constitution only says that an Emolument Committee should determine such a formula.

“Now, it appears over the years the committee itself has been using some formulas, and last year, for instance, they actually wanted to extend the persons who would benefit and the Supreme Court stopped that from happening.

“From where I sit, what I see is that it is the committee’s recommendation which is usually the problem and that could be resolved by the passage of legislation to prescribe a formula.  

“For example, you could pass a law to say the committee can only recommend any increment based on the success of the economy,” the nominee said.
Nolle prosequi

On the issue of nolle prosequi, Mr Srem-Sai said that the Supreme Court had already ruled that once the A-G applies nolle prosequi, it would not be subject to any judicial review or enquiry.

“If the Supreme Court is going to stand by that provision, then it will not matter whether the A-G has gone out of his way to give an explanation or not.