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Top lawyer warns Akufo-Addo against signing Major Mahama Trust Fund into law
Parliament on Thursday passed the bill which will see the State cater for the wife and children of the Major Maxwell Mahama.
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The Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul first laid the bill in the house on Tuesday, 24 October.
This was to fulfil the promise made by President Nana Akufo-Addo's after Barbara’s husband was lynched by a mob in Denkyira-Obuasi now New Oboase.
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“…It is a tough call but my advice is that you [Akufo-Addo] should not give assent to the Major Mahama Trust Fund Bill. Rather, you should return it to Parliament for it to be replaced by a comprehensive Bill that provides timely, predictable and easy to access benefits to the families of ALL SECURITY PERSONNEL who pay the ultimate price while serving the nation,” Prof. Asare advised in a Facebook post.
Discriminatory
According to him, the "Major Mahama Bill flouts the principles of generality and non-discrimination and cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny."
Adding that: "The bill targets Major Mahama and appears to ignore other security personnel we have lost in the past. It is a cardinal principle of the rule of law that laws must apply to broad categories of people and must not single out individuals or groups for special treatment.
READ MORE: Government gets job for Major Mahama's wife
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"The power of parliament to isolate people for rewards, punishment or different treatment is dangerous and must not be countenanced in this Republic. We must not traverse that path."
He said even though the Bill is well intentioned, it sets a very bad precedent.
"It treats equally situated persons differently; it creates bitterness for families in similar situations who are hardly recognized; and it affects the collective morale of service personnel," he said.
He, therefore, charged the President to "seize this opportunity to reiterate your commitment to the rule of law, which requires that our laws conform to the generality principle and are not discriminatory."
Major Mahama was the commander of a military detachment stationed at Diaso in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region to check the activities of illegal miners, popularly known as galamseyers.
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Some residents of then Denkyira-Obuasi lynched him on suspicion that he was an armed robber.
The government promised a Trust Fund to help the family of the deceased with a seed fund of GHS500,000, with President Akufo-Addo also pledging some GHS50,000 from his personal coffers to the bereaved family.
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