The Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Francis Emile Short, has described as improper and an abuse of discretionary power, the phenomenon whereby new governments, upon assumption of office, relieve public officials of their posts without any justification. He observed that very often such public officials were sacked merely because they were perceived not to be members of the ruling government or, as had become fashionable lately, deemed as not sharing the vision of the government. This formed part of a paper he delivered in a series of a three-day lecture organised by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences on the theme: “Governance in Ghana: Challenge to Administrative Justice, Anti-corruption and Access to Justice”. Discussing the topic: “Challenges to Administrative Justice: The Role of Institutions of Governance”, Mr Short said since the coming into force of the 1992 Constitution, there had been many instances of improper exercise of discretionary power by administrative institutions and individuals, contrary to the provisions in Article 296 of the constitution. Article 296(b) provides that “the exercise of the discretionary power shall not be arbitrary, capricious or biased either by resentment, prejudice or personal dislike and shall be in accordance with due process of law”. Furthermore, Article 296(c) provides that “where the person or authority is not a judge or other judicial officer, there shall be published by constitutional instrument or statutory instrument, regulations that are not inconsistent with the provisions of this constitution or that other law to govern the exercise of discretionary power”. Mr Short cited a few judicial rulings to buttress the point that many officials of administrative justice had failed to adhere to the provisions of Article 296 in the exercise of discretionary power. He, however, noted that there were some public service offices that were subject to political patronage, and so there was no need to complain when a new government, after assuming office, decided to dispense with the services of anyone occupying such office for political expediency. He stressed the need to expand the limits of discretionary power in order to ensure administrative justice, while calling on boards and councils of various institutions to ensure that administrative justice was upheld at all times. Delivering another lecture on the topic: “Challenges to administrative justice: A focus on governance institutions”, the Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Institute, Prof. Ken Attafuah, said bestowing discretionary powers in state institutions was good for effective and efficient service delivery. However, the abuse of such discretionary powers must not be encouraged, adding that whenever administrative justice was upheld, the abuse of power, caprice, candour and other forms of injustice were absent from the body politic. Prof. Attafuah urged the CHRAJ to beef up its capacity in order to strengthen administrative justice in the country, adding that there was the need for institutional and societal understanding of administrative justice in the country. He said there was also the need for the CHRAJ to elaborate on the scope, meaning and essence of administrative justice in the country. He suggested the enactment of an administrative justice law that would, among other things, ensure that the CHRAJ’s Annual Report was laid on the floor of Parliament to allow for debate on the state of administrative justice in the country and the deepening of understanding on the issue by Members of Parliament (MPs). Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana