NCCE collates proposals for constitutional reforms "Suggestions to be forwarded to Parliament for consideration"
THE National Commission for Civil Education (NCCE) has collated 17 proposals for reforms in the 1992 Constitution.
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The proposals, which are from members of the public, include constitutional provisions on decentralisation and local government to give much power to the structures of the district assemblies, a change in the date for national elections to give much time to elected presidents to form a government and the upholding of certain values by citizens such as demand for accountability, trustworthiness and transparency.
The Chairperson of the NCCE, Kathleen Addy, said this when she presented a paper at the Institute of Economic Affairs’ Constitutional Review Seminar in Accra last Tuesday.
“The NCCE has been collating and distilling opinions on the aspects of the constitution that Ghanaians wish to improve
“We have received opinions about the distribution of powers between the three arms of government.
We have received opinions about the need to strengthen the accountability relationship between the institutions of government and the people of Ghana.
And of course, we have received opinions on how our local government structures can be improved,” she said.
She noted that the collated reforms would be presented to Parliament in due course.
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CRC
The proposals, Ms Addy said, included a call for the report of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) in 2012 to be simplified and made available to the general public.
She said the proposals also suggested that the commission, which was leading an advocacy for constitutional reforms, should have accessible and dedicated platforms where the public could submit their suggestions on which articles or clauses in the Constitution they think should be reformed.
“The introduction of non-custodian sentence and plea-bargaining should be incorporated into our criminal justice system to ensure equity and fairness for minor offences,” Ms Addy said.
The proposals, she said indicated that the flagship programmes of the NCCE (with intense national interest such as the Constitution Week Celebration), should get more publicity to attract public attention and support and that the 21 years eligibility criterion for a Ghanaian to be able to stand as a Member of Parliament (MP) be made to match with the 18 years voting age Universal Adult Suffrage threshold, “because if one is regarded old enough at 18 years to vote, then such a person should be seen as old enough to be voted for”.
Presidential tenure
Moreover she said, the public proposed that the one term period of four years for a President should rather be made eight years for one term only so that a particular government could finish most of the initiated projects before the end of its term in office.
“The Comptroller-General of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) should be made an automatic member of the National Security Council (NSC) per Article 83 of the Constitution.
“There must be attitudinal change in the citizenry and the politicians to enable us benefit from the democratic process.
There should be amendments to reduce the over-concentrated powers in the hands of the President, as the Constitution gives the President too much power,” she said in another aspect of the proposals.
Citing the proposals, Ms Addy said the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) should be made to mobilise and use their own funds in their respective administrative locations, other than accessing the common fund from the central government.
Also captured in the proposals, she said, was a suggestion that Presidential and Parliamentary elections should be organised at different times to enable voters to make informed decisions.
Constitutional mandates
The proposals said the Judicial Council should be made to elect the Chief Justice, and not the President, as the constitution mandates, adding that “Salaries and emoluments of chief executive officers of state-owned enterprises and article 71 office holders are too high and must be reduced whilst salaries of the other sectors be increased to match up to the current economic conditions.
The Heads of the Security services should not be appointed by the president, but by the hierarchy of the security services.”
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Commenting further, Mrs Addy emphasised that there were no perfect constitutions in the world and that “every constitution is a work in progress”.
“ The NCCE is only interested in constitutional reforms to the extent that the people of Ghana are interested in constitutional reforms.
Guided by our mandate, the commission by itself, does not hold a hard position on what should be amended in the constitution,” the Chairperson stated.
Constitution
An international relations and security expert, Prof .Vladimir Antwi-Danso, who chaired the programme, charged all Ghanaians to work towards constitutionalism, since the lack of that was what was killing the country.
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According to him, the media had a bigger role in the constitutional order.