Abu Sakara Foster, the founder of the National Interest Movement (NIM), says there are impediments in the 1992 constitution that must be removed to transform Ghana’s economy.
He argued, “… whatever we thought the constitution was going to deliver in terms of a transformed society, a transformed economy, that has not happened yet …”
Speaking on The Asaase Breakfast Show, Dr Sakara Foster said, “Now we have to look at the impediments in the 1992 constitution and remove them, because those impediments are our own habits, our own tendencies in relation to the constitution.”
He added, “So, where we feel that the constitution has encouraged certain things we should remove the impediment. Where it [the constitution] has not prevented certain things we should make sure we narrow it down so that it prevents those things.”
However, Sakara Foster said there is no room for abolition of the 1992 constitution, adding: “Neither is there room to have a vote of no confidence in the constitution. But there is ample room for reforms, and comprehensive reform at that; from the mental reforms that will transform the way the system works, so that we get away from the negative part of it and enhance the positive part of it …”
Push for reform
The 2012 flagbearer of the Convention People’s Party is pushing for a review of the 1992 constitution before the 2024 elections.
According to him, a referendum on changing the 1992 constitution must take place before 2023 in order to pave way for a “reset” of what he described as the “dysfunction system” of Ghana.
Speaking on Joy FM earlier, Dr Sakara Foster said that if the current constitution is not changed before the next elections, the modus operandi of whoever wins the election will not change.
The 1992 constitution, the longest-enduring arrangement since Ghana gained independence, ushered in the Fourth Republic. In 2010 the then president, John Evans Atta Mills, appointed a team to review the constitution but the outcome of its work was never implemented.
Targeted review
At a meeting last month with members of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, President Akufo-Addo rejected a wholesale review of the constitution.
“I will not lend my support to any approach that seeks to rewrite the constitution because this has held the country together since coming into force in 1992, compared to the First, Second and the Third Republican constitutions.
“However, I am still hopeful we can look at certain aspects of the constitution, like the need for the election of district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives because I am of the view that it is the way to go,” he said.
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