The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has held its 2022 Annual Constitution Week Lecture and Panel Discussion at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra.
The event which came off on Tuesday May 10, brought together some resourced persons who shared their thought on Ghana's Constitution and the way forward.
Speaking on the three "Three Decades of Uninterrupted Constitutional Rule: Revisiting the Agenda for Reforms", His Lordship, Justice Gabriel Pwamang said "After 30 years of existence, our constitution requires significant reforms that can only be accomplished by resort to the amendments procedure of chapter 25 of the Constitution"
"Gladly, the work of the Constitution review commission in 2010 resulted to the comprehensive report"
He explained that the review commission's comprehensive report pointed out three key dissatisfaction Ghanaians expressed about the workings of the 1992 Constitution at the time of consultation.
"Deficit in transparent governance despite changing from dictatorship to Constitutional Rule in 1992"
"Continous of high level public corruption and lack of accountability for revenue from Natural Resources Exploitation"
"Non realisation of real democratic dividend in the form of accelerated national development promised as attainable in the Constitutional Rule"
He further stressed that since those consultations, Ghanaians still continue to register their grievances with the governance under the 1992 Constitution.
He underscored that, the calls for ammendments of Constitutional Reforms were getting louder by the day leaving the younger generations in a state of failing to see the better future ahead of them after continuous change of governments.
His Lordship Gabriel Pwamang called for a hard look at the governance framework on the Constitution.
On his part, Lecturer, Political Science, University of Ghana, Dr. Seidu Alidu described Ghana's Constitution as one of the greatest living institution of all time.
He said "Having a Constitution no matter how structured or documented or detailed it is, does not necessarily mean that, Political Party Actors, Politicians and Elites will at all times obey or follow the guidelines of the Constitution"
"So that is why the issue of Constitutional order is very important when we talk about Constitution. The Constitutional order is the unflinching commitment to implementing the spirit of the Constitution at all times, even in situations where it is the provision of the Constitution, it is against the interests of the political parties, they will still respect the element of the Constitution"
Sharing her thoughts, Lecturer, School of Law, University of Ghana, Madam Clara Kasser-Tee, said "We do need to work on our constitution but we also do need to work on our values"
She added that complaining about the Constitution alone will not solve the country’s problems.
"The values of accountability. In spite of the hard letter of the word, it is a value. Leave the 1992 Constitution aside, we belong to various WhatsApp groups. How easy is it for you to hold your leadership in that group accountable. In the various associations that we belong to, how do we hold leaderships in those groups accountability?"
Madam Kasser-Tee stressed that the populace must also be committed in living up certain values and make sure such values are actualized through the Constitution and other legal frameworks.
The Executive Director, Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-GHANA), Prof. Henry Kwesi Prempeh, said "We came to this Constitution after many years of several coup d'etat and many discontinuity in government"
"The Constitution creates certain incentives for government, politics and politicians be inclined towards development. The things that the Constitution regulates are there but the ones that it does not, who fills them? It is politics"
"Afrobarometer has given us very important information that demand of democracy has been very strong. Citizens demand for democracy but they are also disappointed in te governments they elect"
He stressed that what political parties give as dividend is not satisfactory to the general public.
He added that there is an expectation gap which citizens are not getting.
"When you hear citizens clamour for Constitution Reviews, parts of these clamour are as a result of the gaps the citizens find. We go to elect Presidents and MPs but we still expect more from them because they have not delivered a lot of the goods that we expect from them"
The NCCE is a government agency in Ghana responsible for the education of Ghanaians on civic matters.
The commission was established by Act 452 of the Parliament of Ghana in 1993.
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith