‘Political challenges are obstacles in 1992 Constitution review’
The Dean of the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) Law School, Professor Kofi Abotsi, has observed that the aim to review the 1992 Constitution has still not been actualised due to the political challenges persisting in the country.
“Successive governments after late President Atta Mills have failed to take up the course due to the assertion that it is a previous government’s project,” he noted.
Prof. Abotsi lamented that after the death of former President Mills, successive governments had not been serious in implementing the Constitution Review Commission work due to the assertion that it was the previous government responsibility.
Making the observation when contributing to the topic: ‘Constitutional Review – Moving Forward Beyond the Talk’, he insisted that the ‘political challenge’ had become an impediment in realising the fervent calls by the citizenry for the supreme laws of the country to be reviewed.
In recent times, a section of citizens have been calling for a constitutional review which the proponent contended that as a result, previous elections have seen some presidential candidates pledge to fulfill the call, however, the populace is yet to see any action.
Just this year, notable people including Kathleen Addy, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), called for a multi-stakeholder and a multi–partisan engagement on the review of the 1992 Constitution.
She held the view that the voices, hopes and aspirations of ordinary Ghanaians must be reflected in any reform since the review would yield no better results if the right measures were not taken.
According to Prof. Abotsi, the reality was that in the scheme of issues, the Constitution Review Commission’s work appeared to have suffered the political problem in the country which often seemed to be the major obstacle to many issues happening which had affected democratic governance.
“The political problem in the sense of there is a perception that it was a certain government’s agenda so even if the current government thinks of the need for a Constitution reform, the question is whether they think of that need through the prism of the Constitution Review Commission’s work which was done under a previous government,” Prof. Abotsi pointed out.
