By Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, March 27, GNA – President John Dramani Mahama has urged members of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), to show great interest in the ongoing National Constitution Review exercise.
The President made the appeal, when a delegation of the GBA led by its National President, Mrs Efua Ghartey, paid him a courtesy call at the Presidency in Accra.
President Mahama noted that the Constitutional Review process started under the late President Professor John Evans Atta Mills, with the commissioning of the Fiadjo Committee.
He said after the Fiadjo Committee released its report, the Government issued a White Paper and subsequently, the Constitution Review Implementation Committee was set up to start implementing the Constitutional Review.
Unfortunately, there was a challenge in the Supreme Court, which took a bit of time to resolve at the end of 2015.
He said because 2016 was an election year, it was not very conducive for the then Government to continue with the Constitutional Review therefore actually left it for the next administration to look at.
He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during his tenure, set up another Constitutional Review Committee, which presented its report at the end of 2024.
“I got a copy of it after the election. And during the campaign, we had promised that we were going to have a constitutional validation exercise to look at all the suggested amendments again and see if they were still valid because time had passed.
Therefore, when I received this one, I included it in that of the Fiadjo Committee report and the white paper,” President Mahama said.
He said his Administration currently had the two Constitutional Committee reports for the new Constitutional Review Committee that was set up under the Chairpersonship of Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh for the validation.
He said the Committee was calling on different groups which may include the Ghana Bar Association, to find out if they had any views about it.
“I hope that when they do, you would participate and let them have your impute on the constitutional amendments,” the President said.
“But if they present their report, we’ll circulate it widely and see what’s the roadmap. One of the things they must give us is a roadmap for implementation. One of the things we’re thinking is to take the issues that are not controversial, especially the non-entrenched clauses, and pass them.”
The President noted that for the more controversial clauses, especially the entrenched ones, the Government would see how they could reach bipartisan agreements in Parliament to be able to pass them.
“I believe that it will make our constitution even stronger. It will plug some of the loopholes that the drafters might not have anticipated at the time the constitution was being written, to strengthen it, as a living document underpinning the survival of the Fourth Republic,” President Mahama said.
President Mahama said, he believed that the 1992 Constitution had been one of the best documents Ghana had ever had, and it was the reason for the sustained survival of the Fourth Republic and hoped that with the amendments, Ghanaians should be able to create a stronger foundation for their democracy.
President Mahama said, one of the issues they were confronted with, was corruption and accountability in office, saying it had become the norm for people to dip their hands into the public purse or misappropriate funds.
He said corruption came up strongly among the top five issues in the last electioneering campaign and that it was one of the highly raised concerns by Ghanaians.
It meant that any government that took over had to look at the issue of corruption in a much different way than had been done in the past.
President Mahama said the expectation of Ghanaians was for the government to mount a stronger fight against corruption, and the set up the Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL) was to achieve that.
“It’s not meant to witch-hunt anybody, but it’s supposed to be an instrument and a vehicle making it possible for people who are whistleblowers and have evidence of corruption, to be able to channel their reports to the appropriate source and have them investigated,” he said.
The President said, he had received the ORAL Committee’s report and handed it over to the Attorney-General for further investigations and prosecution.
He reiterated that ORAL was not an instrument for witch-hunting anybody and that it was an instrument for assisting in the fight against corruption.
Again, the Government was committed to the protection of human rights and investigation of significant killings or murders that had remained uninvestigated, adding that He had urged the police and the investigative organisations to look more actively in cases like Ahmed Suale’s killing, leading to the first arrest of a suspect, hoping that his interrogation would lead to further arrests of others, he said.
He mentioned other murder cases like that of J.B Dankwa Adu, “And we are asking that it be expedited in terms of the prosecution that is taking place and for investigations to be carried out to find out if any other persons were involved in some of those.”
President Mahama dismissed the perception that there was animosity between the Government and the legal fraternity, saying “We are not people who have any such animosity towards the judiciary and the legal fraternity. So, our doors are open. Our hands are open.”
The President underscored the Government’s commitment towards the completion of the construction of court houses across the country.
He acknowledged that the GBA was a very prominent association amongst all the professional bodies, and they had been strong advocates for the rule of law, respect for human rights, respect for the constitution and freedoms, and that his government was very tolerant and opened to criticism to enable it to grow stronger.
Mrs Efua Ghartey, the President of the GBA congratulated President Mahama on his victory in the Election 2024.
She announced the hosting of the Africa Bar Conference in Accra between October 19th and 23rd 2025, indicating that an official invitation would to be sent to President Mahama in due time.
This will be preceded by the National Bar Conference from 14th to19th September in Wa, Upper West Region, she said.
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