Citizens must mend ways for any constitution to work -NCCE Chair

Accra-Ghana, April 3, GNA – The Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Kathleen Addy says a new constitution will not guarantee the development Ghanaians want if citizens continue to be less patriotic.
She said for a country with an abundance of laws that are flouted with impunity, a new constitution may not be the solution to its problems.
Rather, there ought to be a change of mindset and mending of old ways.
“Let’s amend the constitution if we must, however, let’s make sure the amendment cures the ills we want to eradicate as a society.
“We are all keenly aware of the many problems plaquing us and we know many of those problems will not be resolved by constitutional amendment,” she said on a media platform
Buttressing her point, Madam Addy said no constitutional reform could guarantee that paid government employees do not extort arbitrary fees before rendering service to citizens.
“We could set ourselves up for great disappointment if we proceed as if constitutional reforms will resolve all the pertinent challenges faced as a people.
“Reform the constitution if you must, but we don’t want it to be another process that gets hijacked by the elite and interest groups with agenda,” she stressed.
Madam Addy underscored the need to chart a road map for a constitutional review that has a multi-partisan and multi-stakeholder approach and insisted that that consideration should influence the process.
“If we don’t get those dynamics right, at least the two leading parties plus all the other political parties involved, we will go and move and there would be nothing to build,” she said
Mr Ace Ankomah, a private legal practitioner observed that Ghanaians do not deserve the constitution that they want to amend because they had failed to demand adherence to existing provisions crucial for deepening democracy and transparency.
He pointed out that whilst citizens sat aloof, the political class and other arms of government had been engaged in gerrymandering and adopted a lacklustre approach over the past three decades in implementing certain provisions that would have had an immense benefit to citizens.
These provisions he mentioned included promulgation of spousal right property law, and the modification of loan regime.
“We must sit down and have introspection, how have we been faithful to this document that we want to be changed. If we have not been able to protect it, whatever we do will just be another piece of paper,” he said.