The Executive Director of the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) Prof H. Kwasi Prempeh has said the Imposition of Restriction Bill (IRB) is a shoddy piece of work which will only be passed by a parliament that lacks balls, MyNewsGh.com reports.
According to him, in reaction to his colleague academic Prof Stephen Kwaku Asare’s campaign against the passage of the IRB, “only a Parliament without balls or bite would allow this shoddy bill to become law.”
Prof Asare has been condemning the IRB as 2020’s version of Kwame Nkrumah’s Prevention Detention Act (PDA.)
“The IRB has nothing to do with the pandemic. The IRB does not impose a state of emergency. The IRB simply gives the President the power to impose restrictions on your freedom of expression, to practice religion, of assembly, association, information, movement, to participate in political activities, etc.”
He continued:
“The IRB empowers the President to impose these rights-obliterating restrictions by merely issuing an Executive Instrument. The IRB empowers the President to impose these restrictions whenever he is satisfied that they are reasonably required in the interest of defence, public safety, public health or the running of essential services. The IRB allows the President to impose these restrictions without the Parliamentary oversight that is required under a state of emergency.
Minority’s concerns
The Minority in Parliament has declined to support the Imposition of Restrictions Bill, 2020 aimed at helping to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease in Ghana under a certificate of urgency.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo, on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, laid the Imposition of Restrictions Bill, 2020 before Parliament.
The bill, which is to back President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s directives on measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Ghana, is intended to provide a legislative framework, in consonance with the Constitution, for the imposition of restrictions as a quick and effective means of intervention to address emergencies.
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