2023 GIMPA Law Conference participants propose ten modifications to 1992 constitution

Participants in the 2023 edition of the law conference of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) have proposed ten recommendations and/or proposals for consideration regarding the future of the Fourth Republican constitution of Ghana.

The GIMPA Law Conference took place at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) from 14-16 March 2023. The theme of the conference was “The 1992 Constitution of Ghana @ 30: Taking Stock, Assessing Progress and Reflecting on the Future”.

Areas of focus

The conference had many subthemes. Among them were “30 Years of Multiparty Democracy: Challenges and Prospects”, “The Economy and Financial Management in Ghana Since 1993” and “Human Rights Under the 1992 Constitution and Miscellaneous Constitutional Questions (Including the Political Question Doctrine)”.

Other sub-themes of the conference were “Management of Natural Resources Under the 1992 Constitution”; “Women’s Rights and Rights of Persons with Disabilities”; “Constitutional Review and Amendment of the 1992 Constitution”; “Interpretation and Enforcement of the 1992 Constitution”; “Contribution of the Judiciary to Constitutional Development”; and finally, “The Judiciary Under the 1992 Constitution”.

Recommendations

The recommendations and/or proposals suggested by participants at the 2023 GIMPA Law Conference, were first: “As a nation, we must embrace technology and its created systems as opposed to abandoning the idea of incorporating technology as a part of our governance architecture, due to foreseeable failures or challenges with technology that can be prevented and/or addressed.”

Secondly, the conference participants recommended that “private prosecution of corruption related offences should be considered to help the State fight corruption” more effectively.

Third: “Article 181(5) of the 1992 constitution should be seriously looked at as it seems not to be serving the purposes which it was enacted.”

And fourth: “The provision on the prohibition of an unconstitutional overthrow of the constitution should be amended to explain what would constitute a suspension, an overthrow or an abrogation.”

The fifth recommendation of the conference was that: “We [Ghana] must consider a cap on the number of constituencies created as well as the number of Members of Parliament as this would help ease the pressure on the public purse.”

The sixth recommendation was that Ghana “must also consider returning to the 1979 constitutional provisions on strict separation of powers between the executive and the legislature, so that a Member of Parliament cannot be a minister of state at the same time”. This, the conference participants noted, “will help strengthen the institution of Parliament to serve as a check on the executive”.

“The legislature in enacting or amending new or old laws regulating natural resources should use as a blueprint, the law regulating the management of petroleum resources” was the seventh recommendation made by the experts who attended the conference.

The eighth recommendation was: “We should urgently take another look at the content of the Affirmative Action Bill to bring its provisions in line with contemporary realities, as well as ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), and always make provision for persons with disabilities in all our laws.”

The process of enacting executive instruments should be amended to include a process that reflects the principle of checks and balances and discretionary powers of administrative bodies such as the Electoral Commission should be carefully circumscribed” constituted the ninth and tenth recommendations of the conference attendees.

Panel discussions

As part of the three-day programme, there were panel discussions on several topics. The first panel looked at the topic; “Thirty Years of Multiparty Democracy: Challenges and Prospects”.

It was moderated by Enam Antonio, a lecturer at GIMPA Faculty of Law. The panellists included Dennis Adjei Dwommoh, the managing attorney of Law Plus, Nicholas Lenin Anane, who is a lawyer with Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co, and Joshua Godwin Kyeremateng, a lecturer in the Faculty of Law of the University of Cape Coast.

Panels two and three (which ran concurrently) considered the economy and financial management in Ghana since 1993 and the impact of the 1992 constitution on Ghanas socio-economic development.

Panel two was moderated by Dotse Tsikata, principal lecturer in the GIMPA Faculty of Law. The panel members included Clement Kojo Akapame, a senior lecturer with the GIMPA Faculty of Law, Stephen Amoah, the MP for Nhyiaeso in the Ashanti Region, and Jesse Heymann, an associate with Koranteng & Koranteng Legal Advisors.

Panel three was moderated by Victor Brobbey, an adjunct lecturer with GIMPA Faculty of Law. It featured Reginald Nii Odoi, an assistant state attorney in the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, Edmund Nelson Amasah, a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Alexander Hackman-Aidoo, a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Coast, and Diana Asonaba Dapaah, a deputy attorney general and deputy minister of justice, as members of the panel.

Other experts in various fields joined the discussion to consider other topics such as “Parliament Is a Master of Its Own Rules, But the Constitution is a Master of All Rules: An Examination of the Decision in the Justice Abdulai vs the Attorney General Case” and “Management of Natural Resources under the 1992 Constitution”.

Other topics which came up for discussion on days two and three of the conference were “Women’s Rights and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”; “Constitutional Review and Amendment of the 1992 Constitution”; “Interpretation and Enforcement of the 1992 Constitution” and “Contribution of the Judiciary to Constitutional Development Since 1993”.

Click on the link below to read the conference communiqué: 

GIMPA Law Conference 2023 Communiqué

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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