The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is urging President Akufo-Addo to initiate processes to amend the 1992 Constitution to reflect the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) presented to the Presidency 10 years ago under late President John Evans Atta Mills’s administration.
“We would urge His Excellency the President to accept the interpretation of the Apex Court (Supreme Court) as the correct interpretation of the Constitution and the law and proceed to urgently activate the processes for the early implementation of the constitutional reforms as set out by the constitutional reform committee on 20th December 2011″, Nana Ato Dadzie, Chairman of NDC Electoral Reform Committee said at a press conference on Tuesday, August 24, 2021.
In July 2012, Mr. Fritz Baffour, Former Minister of Information stated that Government was in the process to set up a five-member committee to facilitate the process of amending the 1992 Constitution after, the Commission presented its final report to the late President at the Flagstaff House, now Jubilee House on Tuesday,20th December 2011.
He said the decision to review certain aspects of the constitution, was arrived at, following the recommendations contained in the report of the nine-member Constitution Review Commission (CRC) constituted by late President Mills on January 1, 2010, to undertake a consultative review.
The commission was under the chairmanship of Professor Albert Fiadjoe, an Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of West Indies.
Members of the Commission were Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area, Mr. Akenten Appiah-Menka, a Lawyer and an Industrialist; Mrs. Sabina Ofori-Boateng, Consultant to the Legislative Drafting Unit of Parliament; Very Reverend Professor Samuel Kwasi Adjepong of Methodist University College; Dr. Nicholas Amponsah, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Ghana; Mr. Gabriel Pwamang, a Legal Practitioner; Naa Iddrisu Abu Kumbum Naa, Paramount Chief of Kumbungu and Mrs. Jean Mensa, Executive Director of Institute of Economic Affairs.
The process to amend the Constitution stopped when His Excellency John Dramani Mahama took over from the late President Mills.
Current Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame in July 2021 on the floor of Parliament said following the completion of the work of the Constitution Review Committee in January 2010, the Constitution Review Implementation Committee was established in September 2012, to implement the Government White Paper on the recommendations.
He said Constitution Review Implementation Committee proposed 40 amendments of entrenched provisions with two additional consequential amendments and transitional provisions, as well as 50 non-entrenched proposed amendments and six additional clauses.
“To achieve this, the Constitution Review Implementation Committee, before the expiry of its mandate on 31st December 2016, presented to the then Attorney-General, Mrs. Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, a Constitution (Amendment) (Entrenched Provisions) Bill, and a Constitution (Amendment) (Non-Entrenched Provisions) Bill, he said”.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Kofi Atakora
