The Citizens’ Platform on Constitutional Reform (CPCR) has endorsed 16 major proposals in the Government’s Position Paper on the review of the 1992 Constitution. Chairperson of the CPCR Steering Committee, Professor Akosua Keseboa Darkwah, announced the support on behalf of civil society organisations at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, 15 September 2026.
Prof. Darkwah said the areas of agreement span elections, Parliament, executive accountability, local governance and human rights, and prove there is still considerable room for national consensus. She kept reservations on several of the proposals the coalition backs, however, especially where it believes protections belong in the Constitution rather than ordinary law.
“Our intervention today is not about taking contrary positions to the Government,” she stated, adding that the list she presented was by no means exhaustive.
Political Parties and Elections
According to Prof. Darkwah, the coalition supports an independent Political Parties Regulatory Commission to oversee parties and campaigns, although it insists the body must be established and protected under the Constitution.
It also backs giving every party member in good standing a vote in electing party executives and selecting parliamentary and presidential candidates, as well as regulating campaign periods, spending, financial disclosure and abuse of incumbency.
She welcomed moving the presidential election to the first week of November, which would extend the transition period from one month to two, and confirming in the Constitution that presidential and parliamentary polls hold on the same day.
The Platform further endorsed cutting the window for presidential election petitions to fourteen days, requiring the Supreme Court to decide such cases within thirty days and compelling the Electoral Commission to disclose relevant election data promptly.
A Stronger Parliament
On the legislature, Prof. Darkwah said the CPCR supports binding limits on certificates of urgency so that they apply only to genuine emergencies, with public reasons, cross-party approval and proper scrutiny.
The coalition backs proportional representation to improve the presence of women, young people and persons with disabilities in Parliament, while maintaining its objection to simply adding twenty-four seats to existing constituencies.
She added that Ghanaians by birth should not be disqualified from Parliament for holding another citizenship. The Platform also supports defining what counts as a money bill so that ordinary MPs gain broader power to introduce bills and motions, and making a vote of censure binding so that a censured Minister must leave office and cannot return in the same term.
Checks on the Executive
Prof. Darkwah welcomed firm limits on what an outgoing administration can do between election day and the swearing-in of a new President. These include bans on last-minute appointments, unbudgeted contracts or wage increases, dealings in public lands or assets and bills pushed through under certificates of urgency, with any breach rendered void.
The coalition supports separating the Attorney-General from Cabinet and creating a Minister of Justice, but she maintained that corruption investigations and prosecutions should move to an independent, constitutionally established Anti-Corruption and Ethics Commission.
The Platform also backs an Independent Public Emoluments Commission to set pay across the public sector, including for the President and Article 71 officeholders, so that officeholders no longer effectively decide their own remuneration.
Local Governance and Citizen Power
The CPCR endorsed the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), provided the contests are open and free of presidential nomination or executive vetting. It also supports reforming how Presiding Members of District Assemblies are elected.
Prof. Darkwah welcomed giving citizens a direct route to propose constitutional amendments but said the signature threshold should stay between five and seven and a half per cent of registered voters.
The coalition also backs expanding the NCCE’s functions to include organising presidential debates, civic forums and town hall meetings under impartial rules and with protected funding.
Human Rights and the Death Penalty
The Platform supports passing a comprehensive and enforceable Human Rights Act before or alongside the amendments, provided it does not narrow or weaken rights Ghanaians already enjoy. It also backs completing the abolition of the death penalty by removing its remaining constitutional references, including through an amendment to Article 94.
“This common ground gives the country a strong foundation on which to move the reform process forward,” Prof. Darkwah said.
She acknowledged Government’s willingness to accept many of the Review Committee’s recommendations, and the coalition plans to build on this shared ground in upcoming engagements with the President, the opposition, Parliament and the Constitution Review Implementation Committee.
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