The Constitution Review Committee (CRC) has explained that recommendations in the report do not need the issuance of a White Paper before they can be implemented.
The Secretary to the committee, Dr Rainer Akumperigya, said unlike the 2011 CRC which was by an Executive Instrument (EI), the 2025 committee was established under the President’s constitutional powers.
He said the 2011 CRC report required a government white paper, but the current committee’s report does not need a white paper, adding that “the government can simply state its position on the report”.
The secretary further said that following the indication by the President to implement the recommendations, the next step was to set up an Implementation Committee.
“The President has indicated that some members of the current CRC will be part of the implementation committee for institutional memory and continuity,” Dr Akumperigya said.
Implementable constitutional provisions
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic on the next phase of the review process, Dr Akumperigya indicated that the implementation committee that would be set up under the auspices of the President would translate the recommendations of the CRC report into implementable constitutional provisions, laws, and institutions.
He explained that the recommendations would be implemented through amendments to the constitution, which could be done through two main routes: non-entrenched and entrenched provisions.
For non-entrenched provisions, he said the President would submit the recommendations to Cabinet, which would work with the Attorney-General and the implementation committee to draft Bills of Parliament.
He explained that the Bills would then be presented to Parliament, where a two-thirds majority vote would be required for amendment.
Once assented to by the President, he said the amended provisions would become part of the Constitution.
Dr Akumperigya emphasised that the amendments would not result in a new constitution, but rather updates to the existing 1992 Constitution.
Simplified referendum process
Dr Akumperigya said the CRC had also recommended a simplified process for amending the entrenched provisions of the Constitution.
He said the committee proposed to lump all entrenched provisions together and pose a single question to citizens in a referendum, rather than voting on each provision separately.
This approach, he said, was aimed at making the process more manageable and efficient.”
“The citizens will vote in a referendum. We want to pose a single question for the people to vote on,” he said.
He said the question that would be posed during the referendum is, “Do you approve the entrenched provisions?”
The entrenched provisions, he said, included issues such as extending the presidential term from four to five years and reducing the presidential age requirement from 40 to 30.
“The constitution says that for a successful referendum on a particular entrenched provision you need at least 40 per cent of the voting population to turn out to vote and you need 75 per cent for a particular vote to carry,” he said.
He said it was the view of the CRC that most entrenched provisions did not require special protection and therefore proposed moving them to unentrenched provisions.
“If we ‘non-entrench’ them, our nation doesn’t lose anything; our democracy won’t suffer,” Dr Akumperigya said.
If approved, the amendments would require a two-thirds majority in Parliament, promoting bipartisan consensus.
Dr Akumperigya added that the CRC’s proposal was aimed at balancing efficiency with democratic safeguards, ensuring citizens had a say in shaping the country’s constitution.
Implementation Committee
The implementation committee, a technical committee of the CRC, and the Attorney-General will work together to draft Bills of Parliament, which would then follow the same process as non-entrenched provisions.
He said the entrenched provisions, which include fundamental rights such as freedom of assembly, right to life, and right to contest the presidency, were designed to protect the country’s democracy from changes that may be detrimental to the nation.
“The entrenched provision is to just say that there are certain matters of our nation state and our democracy that are embedded in the constitution that are so fundamental to our democracy that it should be protected from change,” Dr Akumperigya explained.
“Our view to remove the constraints, constitutional constraints and the constitutional blocks is the reason why we have made the recommendation to move some of the entrenched provisions to the non-entrenched ones,” he said.
Dr Akumperigya said the CRC would engage in public education to ensure that stakeholders understand the review process and its implications.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh