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PRICES AND INCOMES BOARD DECREE,
1972 (NRCD 119)
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Establishment of Board.
2. Composition.
3. Functions of Board.
4. Executive Director and Deputy
Executive Director.
5. Other Staff of Board.
6. Meetings of the Board.
7. Inquiries.
8. Summons to Attend and Furnish
Information.
9. Regulations.
10. Section 6 of Industrial
Relations Act, 1965 Amended.
11. Offences.
12. Offences by Bodies of Persons.
13. Removal of Doubts Regarding
Incomes to which Board's Functions
Relate.
14. Repeals.
IN pursuance of the provisions of
the National Redemption Council
(Establishment) Proclamation,
1972, this Decree is hereby made:
Section 1—Establishment of Board.
There is hereby established a
Board to be known as the "Prices
and Incomes Board" in this Decree
referred to as "the Board".
Section 2—Composition.
(1) The Board shall consist of a
Chairman and seven other persons
all of whom shall be appointed by
the National Redemption Council.
(2) The seven members to be
appointed under subsection (1) of
this section shall be the
following:—
(i)
a distinguished citizen well
versed in Trade Union matters,
(ii) a prominent economist or
University Professor,
(iii) an employer, manufacturer or
trader,
(iv) a farmer,
(v) a distinguished Ghanaian woman
preferably in the field of Social
Welfare or Education,
(vi) a distinguished citizen from
any recognised profession,
(vii) the Chairman of the body
known as the Special Action Unit.
(3) The Chairman and the other
members of the Board shall hold
office upon such terms and
conditions as may be determined by
the National Redemption Council.
Section 3—Functions of Board.
The functions of the Board are as
follows:—
(a) to formulate an appropriate
incomes and prices policy for the
successful development of the
country's economy;
(b) to conduct periodic reviews of
the trends of incomes and prices,
evaluate the extent to which these
harmonise with the Government's
policy objectives, and make
appropriate recommendations of
action that might be required in
the furtherance of the
Government's incomes and prices
policy;
(c) to study and recommend to
Government policy measures that
might be required for the
regulation of wages and salaries,
interests, profits, dividends,
rents and prices in the entire
economy;
(d) to advise the Government on
all aspects of the Government's
income policy and in particular
but without prejudice to the
foregoing, to advise the
Government on wage rates and
Government's policy concerning
interests, profits, dividends and
rents;
(e) to examine any question
referred to it by the Government
being a question relating to
wages, salaries, incomes,
conditions of service (including
those of public servants and
members of the Armed Forces) or to
prices or to company dividends or
returns on capital invested in any
form of property and report to the
Government on any question so
referred.
Section 4—Executive Director and
Deputy Executive Director.
(1) The Board shall have an
officer to be designated the
Executive Director.
(2) Subject to such directions as
to policy which the Board may
give, the Executive Director shall
be responsible for the day-to-day
implementation of the functions of
the Board.
(3) There shall also be a Deputy
Executive Director who shall
assist the Executive Director in
the performance of his duties and
shall perform such other functions
as the Board may direct.
(4) The Executive Director and the
Deputy Executive Director shall be
persons appointed by the National
Redemption Council and shall hold
office upon such terms and
conditions as the Council may
determine.
Section 5—Other Staff of Board.
(1) The staff of the Board shall
be public officers.
(2) Subject to such directions as
the Chairman of the National
Redemption Council may give on the
matter, the staff of the Incomes
Commission, the Public Service
Advisory Board and the Pay
Research Unit shall, be deemed to
be transferred to the service of
the Board with effect from the
commencement of this Decree.
(3) The Government shall provide
to the Board the services of such
other public officers as the Board
may consider necessary for the
efficient performance of its
functions under this Decree.
Section 6—Meetings of the Board.
(1) The Board shall meet for the
dispatch of its business at such
times and places as the Board may
determine.
(2) At every meeting of the Board
at which he is present the
Chairman shall preside and in his
absence a member of the Board
appointed by the members present
from among themselves shall
preside.
(3) Questions proposed at a
meeting of the Board shall be
determined by a simple majority of
members present and voting and in
the event of equality of votes the
person presiding shall have a
second or casting vote.
(4) The quorum at any meeting of
the Board shall be four.
(5) The Board may at any time
co-opt any person or persons to
act as an adviser or advisers at
any of its meetings but no person
so co-opted shall be entitled to
vote at any such meeting on any
matter for decision by the Board.
(6) The validity of any
proceedings of the Board shall not
be affected by any vacancy among
its members or by any defect in
the appointment of any of them.
(7) The Board shall keep minutes
of all its proceedings.
Section 7—Inquiries.
The Board may hold such inquiries
as it considers necessary or
desirable for the discharge of its
functions under this Decree, and
the Board may at any such inquiry
direct that any person appearing
as a witness be examined on oath,
and administer an oath
accordingly, or instead of so
directing, require the person
examined to make and subscribe a
declaration of the truth of the
matter respecting which he is
examined.
Section 8—Summons to Attend and
Furnish Information.
(1) For the purposes of any
inquiry under this Decree the
Board may by summons require any
person—
(a) to attend, at such time and
place as is specified in the
summons, to give evidence on, or
to produce all documents in his
possession or control which relate
to, any matter so specified, being
a matter in question at the
inquiry, or
(b) to furnish to the Board such
estimates, returns or other
information as may be specified or
described in the summons, and
specify the time, the manner and
the form in which any such
estimates, returns or information
are to be furnished.
(2) No person shall be compelled
for the purpose of any such
enquiry to give any evidence or
produce any document which he
could not be compelled to give or
produce in proceedings before the
High Court or, in complying with
any requirement for the furnishing
of information, to give any
information which he could not
give in evidence in such
proceedings.
(3) Witnesses called by the Board
shall be entitled to the same
allowances as if they were persons
called as witnesses before the
High Court.
Section 9—Regulations.
(1) The Board may by legislative
instrument make such regulations
as may appear to it necessary for
carrying into effect the
principles and provisions of this
Decree.
(2) Without prejudice to the
generality of subsection (1) of
this section the Board may by
regulations made thereunder
prescribe guidelines for the
determination of incomes and
prices.
(3) Any collective agreement
regulating incomes which is
entered into contrary to any
guidelines laid down by the Board
under this section shall be null
and void.
(4) Regulations made under this
section may prescribe in respect
of any contravention thereof a
penalty not exceeding a fine of
¢5,000.00 or three years'
imprisonment or both; and in the
case of a continuing offence may
prescribe a penalty in respect of
each day on which the offence
continues.
Section 10—Section 6 of Industrial
Relations Act, 1965 Amended.
Section 6 of the Industrial
Relations Act, 1965 (Act 299) is
hereby amended by the insertion at
the end thereof, of the following
new subsection:—
"(4) Any such agreement shall be
in conformity with such guidelines
relating to incomes as may from
time to time be prescribed by the
Prices and Incomes Board."
Section 11—Offences.
Every person who—
(a) refuses or wilfully neglects
to attend in obedience to a
summons issued under section 8 of
this Decree, or to give evidence
as required by such summons, or
(b) wilfully alters, suppresses,
conceals, destroys or refuses to
produce any book or other document
which he has been required to
produce by such a summons, or
(c) refuses or wilfully neglects
to furnish any estimate, return or
other information required of him
by such a summons or, in
furnishing any such estimate,
return or other information, makes
any statement which he knows to be
false in a material particular, or
recklessly makes any statement
which is false in a material
particular,
commits an offence and is liable
on conviction to a fine not
exceeding ¢500.00.
Section 12—Offences by Bodies of
Persons.
Where any body of persons
contravenes any provision of this
Decree or any regulation made
thereunder which constitutes an
offence under this Decree then—
(a) in the case of a body
corporate (other than a
partnership) every director or
officer of the body shall be
deemed also to be guilty of the
offence; and
(b) in the case of a partnership,
every partner or officer of the
body shall also be deemed to be
guilty of that offence:
Provided that no person shall be
deemed to be guilty of an offence
by virtue of this section, if he
proves that the offence was
committed without his knowledge or
connivance and that he exercised
all due diligence to prevent the
commission of the offence having
regard to all the circumstances.
Section 13—Removal of Doubts
Regarding Incomes to which Board's
Functions Relate.
For the removal of doubts, it is
hereby declared that the functions
of the Board are not restricted to
incomes which are normally
regulated by collective
agreements.
Section 14—Repeals.
The following enactments are
hereby repealed:—
Incomes Commission Decree, 1968 (NLCD
256)
Public Service Wages and Salaries
Decree, 1969 (NLCD 348).
Made this 3rd day of October,
1972.
COLONEL I. K. ACHEAMPONG
Chairman of the National
Redemption Council
Date of Gazette Notification: 11th
October, 1972.
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