Open up constitution review process - CFI

The Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) has called for the opening up of the constitutional review process to allow for broad-based participation and the strengthening of popular commitments to the constitution.

The CFI, which comprises organised civil societies, trade unions, professional bodies and traditional rulers, said the constitution review process had been too “Executive-driven”, and stressed the need for the people, not the government, to own the constitution amendment process.

Addressing a news conference in Accra on Wednesday, a member of the CFI, Mr Seth Agbolosu, called on the government to not rush the constitution review process but allow thorough work and education on it.

“Members of Parliament, as representatives of the people, ought to have reasonable time to consider the bill in the interest of the nation,” he said.

Constitution review process

Following the report submitted to the government by the Constitution Review Commission after a nationwide consultation process on the review of the 1992 Constitution, the government issued a White Paper on same, upholding, as well as rejecting some of the recommendations in the report.

Subsequently, the government inaugurated the Constitution Review Implementation Committee (CRIC), under the chairmanship of Prof. E. V. O. Dankwa, to oversee the implementation of the approved recommendations.

As part of the implementation process, the CRIC drafted a Constitution Amendment Bill, which is said to be presently with the Council of State and Parliament for their consideration.

The draft bill is said to contain 34 amendments to existing entrenched provisions in the constitution and seven new entrenched provisions, bringing the number of proposed entrenched clauses for amendment in a referendum to 41.

People’s constitution

But the beef of the CFI is that the constitution review process lacks transparency and is too Executive-driven without popular participation, and that, in its opinion, defeats the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution.

In line with the preamble of the constitution- “We the people of Ghana…”- and provisions of Article 35(6)(d), thus; “…by affording all possible opportunities to the people to participate in decision making at every level in national life and in government”, the CFI is insisting that the government grants the constitution review process a people’s ownership.

Mr Agbolosu, who is also the Head of Social Relations & Industrial Protection at the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), called on Parliament, the Electoral Commission, political parties and other stakeholders to give serious consideration to the referendum procedures and processes.

“The Executive, Council of State, Parliament and all stakeholders should strive for consensus on the amendment of the constitution for the greater good of Ghana,” he said.

Mr Agbolosu said given the fact that the Council of State and Parliament would require some time to consider the Constitution Amendment Bill and the need to gazette the amendments for six months before referendum, “it would be extremely difficult to hold a referendum on the amendment of the entrenched clauses in the 1992 Constitution this year”.

“The time between now and the referendum is too short to do the right thing the right way,” he added.

He said constitutional amendment was an opportunity that came once in a lifetime, so the quality of decisions made must stand the test of time.

Referendum

Another issue of major concern to the CFI is the voting procedure expected to be applied to the referendum which would require the electorate to vote “Yes” or “No” for all the 41 entrenched provisions, instead of voting on each of the entrenched provisions.

According to Mr Kwesi Jonah of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), the procedure may create a situation where people will vote “NO” simply because they do not like one of the entrenched clauses.

A former Commissioner of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Justice Emile Short, said “it’s a very serious situation that would confront voters”.

He said unless there was constitutional or legal provisions that required one-time voting on all the 41 entrenched clauses, it would be better to vote on each of the proposed entrenched clauses.

The former commissioner urged the CRIC to make public the 41 proposed entrenched provisions for referendum in the interest of transparency.

The Chairman of the CFI, Major General Nii Carl Coleman, emphasised the need to correct the process because “if we miss this opportunity, we may never have another opportunity”.

Writer’s Email: kofi.yeboah@graphic.com.gh