Former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kwabena Agyepong has said the 1992 Constitution is not the cause of the problems facing the country and the people.
He blamed the problems on leadership across board – political, religious, entertainment and the media.
“The constitution says we should have 19 cabinet ministers but presidents after presidents have appointed far more than that.
“That is not the fault of the constitution, don’t blame the Constitution, blame those who are leading,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday January 7.
In order to tackle the problems facing the country, he said Ghana needs a selfless leader.
“Service, sacrifice and selflessness, if you don’t have these characters you don’t have any business going round as a politician,” the aspiring flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) added.
He also indicated that “all of us have a role to play. We should stop whipping the constitution, the Constitution is not the problem but the way we lead our country.”
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Nii Ayikoi Otoo also defended the 1992 Constitution after describing it as a good set of laws.
He is not in favour of regular amendments of the Constitution after citing the American constitution which has been in existence for over two hundred years but has not seen too many changes.
Mr Ayikoi Otoo wants Ghana’s Constitution to be allowed to grow with conventions well established.
Also speaking on TV3’s Key Points on Saturday January 7, a day to mark three decades of the Fourth Republican dispensation, the former High Commissioner to Canada said “we should look at this constitution as a little different from the others that we have had before, in the sense that, it appears in a very unique way it has drafted things.
“Parliament shall have no power to enact a law establishing a one party state; any activity of a person or group of persons who suppress or seek to suppress the lawful political activity of any other person or persons generally is unlawful…
“All citizens of Ghana shall have the duty at all times to defend this constitution and in particular, to resist any person or group of persons seeking to commit any of the acts referred to in Clause 3 of this Article and, to do all in their power to restore this constitution after it has been suspended, overthrown or abrogated…
“That said, the important thing is that your economy, your economy is important to people, your governance, if it is a bad governance, it is something that can lead to a problem, it is not necessarily the Constitution itself which guarantees for example, fundamental human rights as against what we saw in 1960 where somebody will tell you they are unenforced, these ones, they are forcible, you can go to court and get them enforced.
“The constitution sets up the broad parameters of governance and allocates duties to them, all within law or constitutionalism.”
He added “It is a good constitution, there have been a few talks about amendments. As far as I am concerned, you allow it to grow, it has its own sprit which should animate whatever interpretation we want, let us grow our own conventions. The American Constitution has been there for over 200 years but how many amendments do we have?
“So those who are calling for abrogation of the Constitution, sometimes I ask them, are they looking for power, for example, from Parliament to enact a law establishing a one party state? Something that it says in this constitution should never happen or that they no longer want freedom and protection of fundamental human rights.”
