A Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, has expressed his disagreement with the yearly amendment of the 1992 constitution.
According to him, there is nothing wrong with the current 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana which warrants yearly changes. He indicated that although there are a few issues that have been raised against the document, the Constitution has served the country well.
“I see nothing wrong with this constitution, maybe there are one or two issues, but the American constitution has been around for over 200 years, how many amendments has it done through? I am not in favor of where every year, we amend the constitution.”
Alfred Tuah-Yeboah,
On his part, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, described the current 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana as a good set of laws. He therefore expressed his displeasure in the regular amendments of the Constitution.
Citing the American constitution as a case in point, he indicated that the constitution which has been in existence for over two hundred years has not seen too many changes.
Mr Ayikoi Otoo highlighted that Ghana’s Constitution must be allowed to grow with conventions well established.
“We should look at this constitution as a little different from the others that we have had before, in the sense that, it appears in a very unique way it has drafted things.”
Nii Ayikoi Otoo,
The former minister of justice noted that parliament shall also have no power to enact a law establishing a one-party state. With this, he explained that any activity of a person or group of persons who suppress or seek to suppress the lawful political activity of any other person or persons generally is unlawful.
“All citizens of Ghana shall have the duty at all times to defend this constitution and in particular, to resist any person or group of persons seeking to commit any of the acts referred to in Clause 3 of this Article and, to do all in their power to restore this constitution after it has been suspended, overthrown or abrogated…”
Nii Ayikoi Otoo
Relevance of the 1992 constitution to Ghanaians
Mr Ayikoi Otoo reveled that the most important thing for Ghanaians is the economy, governance and if it is a bad governance, it is something that can lead to a problem. As such, it is not necessarily the Constitution itself which guarantees for example, fundamental human rights as against what was seen in “1960 where somebody will tell you they are unenforced, these ones, they are forcible, you can go to court and get them enforced”.
“The constitution sets up the broad parameters of governance and allocates duties to them, all within law or constitutionalism.”
Nii Ayikoi Otoo
Mr Otoo emphasized that the constitution is a good one and there have been a few talks about amendments. He stated that as far as he is concerned, “you allow it to grow, it has its own sprit which should animate whatever interpretation we want, let us grow our own conventions”.
Meanwhile, a former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Agyepong, has indicated that the 1992 Constitution is not the cause of the problems facing the country and the people.
Mr Agyepong blamed the problems on leadership across board especially within political, religious, entertainment and the media.
“The constitution says we should have 19 cabinet ministers but presidents after presidents have appointed far more than that. That is not the fault of the constitution, don’t blame the Constriction, blame those who are leading.”
Kwabena Agyepong
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