‘More education needed on constitution review’

The Member of Parliament for Zebilla has urged Members of Parliament to eschew partisanship and approach the constitution review process with circumspection when the issue comes before the House.

Mr CletusAvoka, a former Majority Leader in Parliament, called on members of the Council of State to use their rich experiences and knowledge to enrich the process. 

He was speaking at a dialogue meeting on the constitutional review process organised by the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS) and the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) in Accra yesterday. 

The meeting was meant to assess the progress the two had made so far in their bid to influence the outcome of the constitution review. 

Proposals the GCBC had submitted for consideration include the need for an entrenched national development plan in the Constitution, abolishing  the death penalty, and reforms to strengthen national institutions and systems to reduce bribery and corruption.

Disagreements

While the public is divided over the pace of work of the process, with bodies including the Institute of Economic Affairs, the Christian Council of Ghana and the Ghana Trades Union Congress urging the Constitution Review Implementation Committee (CRIC) to hasten the process slowly, others insist that the process has been slowed down by Parliament. 

But speaking at the event, Mr Avoka explained that there were various processes that the passage of bills and constitutional amendments passed through.

“Unless Parliament received the document, it would not be fair to be saying that Parliament was delaying the process. A normal bill that the Executive brings to Parliament to be passed is not the same as the ongoing process,” he said. 

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Oseadeeyo Kwasi Akuffo, the Okuapehene

Mr Avoka, who took the gathering through the amendment stages of both entrenched clauses and normal provisions in the Constitution, was of the view that a lot of public education was needed to generate public interest. 

Timetable

The Executive Secretary of the Department of Human Development of the NCS, Mr Samuel  Z. Akologo, called for a more definitive timetable for the process.