A stakeholders’ consultative validation workshop on the review of the 1992 Constitution was over the weekend held under auspices of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to discuss preliminary report of the Constitutional Review Consultative Committee.
Under the chairmanship of law lecturer, Clara Kasser-Tee, the multi sectorial Committee is the second layer of processes to have the Constitution revised.
The three-day workshop on the theme, ‘Building Consensus and Promoting Ownership for the Review of the 1992 Constitution’ was to offer stakeholders the opportunity to dilate the preliminary report of the Committee.
In attendance were the minister of Parliamentary Affairs and former Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Tamale South MP and former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, Members of Parliament, Civil Society Organisations, traditional rulers, diplomatic community, and academia, amongst others.
Opening the workshop, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, MP, Suame, says his outfit has over the last six years largely engaged Ghanaians in the constitutional review processes.
For example, he said former presidents, John Agyekum Kufuor and John Dramani Mahama, parliament, the judiciary, independent institutions of state, civil society, the traditional authority and the clergy amongst others.
According to him, the review of the Constitution which started under the late John Mills’ administration in 2010 must deliver a governance structure that yields the blessings of liberty, equality of opportunity and prosperity for all.
He stated that though the stakeholders agreed that steady progress has been made since Ghana returned to democratic order, they were of the view the dividends of same has not been felt by the people underscoring the need for the review of the constitution.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu further indicated that the legal processes that halted the process in 2014 having been resolved, said the consensus remained that, “we cannot let the great efforts [to review the constitution] and the excellent outcomes [of the Constitutional Review Commission’s work] to go waste.”
Mr Iddrisu, contributing to the report of the Committee presented by the Chairperson of the, noted that the winner-takes-all syndrome was affecting the coexistence that was needed to deliver an effective and efficient government that responds to the needs of the people.
He added that if that was addressed, the energies and expertise of persons who are not apart from the governing party would be on have to support the realisation of a representative government.
Madam Kasser-Tee, in her presentation outlined some of the radical approaches that have been proposed by the stakeholders.
Some include the need for the president to pay tax, cap the number of ministers a president can appoint, cap members of parliament at 277, and ensure strict separation of powers by barring members of parliament from serving as ministers, amongst others.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI