Renowned city lawyer has waded into the controversial moved recently made by Finance Minister, Mr. Salvatore Garang.
Amackoor Marial Dennis explained why and how the minister of Finance was able to fire Dr. Olympio Attipoe the Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority.
In a post on Facebook on Friday, Marial explained how the finance minister could fire a civil servant appointed by a presidential decree.
According to the lawyer, the Finance Minister has the power to terminate the contract due to vague Art. 8 (3)
The lawyer’s analysis on social media was as follow.
Legal Analysis on Commissioner General of NRA Contract’s Termination.
Take note of the following facts.
Most South Sudanese have been asking where Hon Salvatore got the powers to terminate someone appointed by the President. Here below is the fact for your satisfaction.
The National Revenue Authority Act 2016
CHAPTER IV THE COMMISSIONER GEREAL
Art. 16 Appointment and Tenure of Commissioner General
(1) The position of the Commissioner General shall be filled through a competitive process by publicly advertising the position, selecting and recommending the most suitable candidate by the Minister for appointment by the President…..that means the former CG had gone through a rigorous recruitment process before the Minister recommended his appointment….see sub articles 1 below for more consumption
(a) in the first instance for a fixed term on PERFORMANCE BASED contract of not more than five years…..keep in mind the capitaled words before we come to terminate..and
(b) shall be eligible for final period not exceeding five……in case he/she performed to the satisfactory expectation of the institution.
(2) The CG shall not hold any office other than that of NRA not engage in any other occupation for financial rewards or profit out side the office of CG…in other words consultancy or Private businesses.
(3) The commissioner General tenure maybe terminated in accordance with section 8 (3)…..FOLLOW ME TO TERMINATION CLAUSE.
ART 8 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE BOARD.
(3) The Board may recommend to the Minister the termination of the service of the CG for the following reasons;
(a) violation, misconduct or malpractices of the terms set in code of conduct of the authority or
(b) inability, incapacity or incompetence to perform the duties of his or her office
ANALYSIS
- The law earlier provided that the Minister of Finance shall recommend the most suitable candidate for appointment by the President and failed to clearly provide for the Minister after the board’s recommendations for termination further recommends to the President for the termination in order to be consistent with the Administrative Law’s Doctrine of Intra vires the power that appoints is the power that relieves.
- The silence of Art. 8 (3) not referring to Presidential powers has given the Minister power to terminate the contract.
CONCLUSION
Although the public has been looking for reasons of termination, legal documents do not serve as explanatory documents but enforcement documents the citations above could be the reasons for termination the Paramount question remains, did the Board of Directors make any recommendation? If so then the Minister acted intra vires.
Goodnight my good people see you next time when you need clarifications on some legal citations
