Constitution Review: Committee receives over 500 proposals from stakeholders

The Constitution Review Committee (CRC), tasked with assessing and proposing amendments to Ghana's 1992 Constitution, has received over 500 online and in-person submissions to assist its work.

The committee, made up of legal and governance experts, will focus on identifying key areas of the Constitution that need updating to align with the country's evolving democratic and socio-economic realities.

In addition, it is to carefully examine past recommendations, identify necessary changes and create a clear roadmap leading to meaningful constitutional amendments.

The Secretary to the CRC, Dr Rainer Akumperigya, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency, said the stakeholder engagements had, so far, been fruitful.

The committee has received written submissions from groups, including the National Commission for Civic Education, past officers from the Electoral Commission and Non-Governmental/Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) with a lot of expertise in the natural resources sector, such as the Africa Centre for Energy Policy, he said.

Academia

From academia, Professors Kwame Gyan, Kofi Quashiga and Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, all from the University of Ghana, have presented proposals to the Committee.

The Institute of Economic Affairs, which was represented by two notable personalities, former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Aaron Oquaye, and former Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, also presented written submissions to the group. A lot of engineers and institutions have presented proposals.

Dr Akumperigya said the committee had already met with President John Dramani Mahama at the Jubilee House to solicit his inputs, considering his wealth of experience, from his days as assemblyman, to Member of Parliament, Vice-President and President of Ghana.

"The committee will also meet with the other arms of government; the Legislature and Judiciary, to present their proposals, as well as former Presidents and Vice-President to make their submissions to support our work,” he said.

The Secretary to the Committee explained that after its inauguration in February, the committee had proceeded to set out the modalities of undertaking its mandate in terms of strategy, engagement, timelines, planning and resources.

During the first week of discussions, the committee decided on two major forms of engagements; the stakeholder and the validation engagements.

Validation conference

He clarified that even before the committee was formed, the President had earlier announced the holding of a National Constitutional Validation Conference.

In order not to duplicate the functions of the committee and the outcome of the validation conference, which will be materially useful to the committee, it had decided to merge the national validation conference with its zonal engagements, which the President accepted.

Eight zones were, therefore, created out of the 16 regions, with Tamale and Bolga in one zone, Wa, Sunyani, Kumasi, Takoradi, Cape Coast and Koforidua as different zones, while Accra will serve as the hub of stakeholder engagements.

The zonal engagements were open to the public: traditional authorities, heads of educational institutions, students' unions, women's groups, disability groups, among others.  — GNA