CONSTITUTION REVIEW WILL ENSURE HOME-GROWN DEMOCRACY — ABU (PAGE 14, JULY 1, 2010)

A MEMBER of the Constitution Review Commission (CRC), Kunbun Naa Yiri Alhaji Iddrisu Abu, has argued that the review of the 1992 Constitution represents nothing more than good housekeeping for the country.
He said it is also an attempt by the people of Ghana to fashion out home-grown solutions to governance problems.
He observed that although Ghana was making strides on the road map to constitutionalism, there were still too many challenges to the governance process.
He was addressing the Bawku municipal level consultations of the CRC.
The forum in the Bawku municipality, which should have been held earlier in the year, was delayed due to the conflict situation there. It attracted an impressive gathering of heads of departments, assembly members, teachers, health workers and the public who expressed their views and opinions on the operations of the Constitution.
Mr Rowland Atta-Kesson, a researcher, said at the end of the regional and district level consultations, the CRC would make recommendations to the government for consideration and provide a draft bill for a possible amendment of the 1992 Constitution.
The Bawku Municipal Chief Executive, in a welcoming address, commended the CRC for creating the platform to critically examine the supreme law of the land.
Some women participants advocated the extension of maternity leave from three to six months, taking into consideration the admonition by the Ministry of Health to women to do exclusive breast-feeding for six months.
Ms Jane Asare Dartey, a teacher, observed that if that was done, women would get enough time to breastfeed their children and ensure the healthy growth of their babies.
According to Article 27(1), special care shall be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period before and after child-birth; and during those periods, working mothers shall be accorded paid leave.
Article 27(3) also states that women shall be guaranteed equal rights to training and promotion without impediments from any person.
Some contributors observed that the Constitution did not specifically make provision for the situation where a vacancy is created as a result of the death or resignation of the sitting Vice-President and, therefore, called for the inclusion of a provision to regulate a situation where a vacancy was created as a result of the stepping down of a Vice-President.
Mr Richard Akumbas, another teacher, said the Constitution was not clear on the position of the Vice-President in the event that he/she resigned to join another party and urged the CRC to examine the provision that would enable the Vice-President to complete his term.
He proposed that in a situation where a sitting Vice-President resigned from his party and joined another party or died, it should be possible for the President to re-nominate another person, subject to the approval of Parliament.
He also petitioned the CRC to consider a proposal for amending the Constitution to allow a ceiling for the appointment of judges for the Supreme Court.
Rev. Edmund Wasan Nagba of the Presbyterian Church at Bawku proposed the removal of the indemnity clauses from the 1992 Constitution to deal with persons who interrupted the democratic governance of the country.
He also proposed the separation of the office of the Attorney-General from that of the Ministry of Justice to allow for an efficient dispensation of justice.
The Chief of Binduri, Naba Robert Akolbila, said Article 276(1) state that a chief shall not take part in active party politics and any chief wishing to do so and seeking election to Parliament shall abdicate his skin or stool.
However, Naba said, the Constitution was silent on the time frame for the abdication so that if the chief failed to secure his seat, he could return to his stool or skin.
He also argued that if chiefs may be appointed to any public office for which they were qualified, then they should also be considered for appointment as metropolitan, municipal or district chief executives and ministers of state.