“The 1992 Constitution created a monstrous executive which looms larger over the other arms of governance structure, and for 28 years, we have failed to make any meaningful changes to strengthen our democracy”- Sam Jonah.
I can’t agree more with Senior Citizen Sam Jonah’s assertion. The reason for this is not far to fetch.
The 1992 Constitution is a creation of a “dictatorship or military regime”. During the Provisional National Defence Council(PNDC) regime; the legislative and executive powers were fused and vested in the “Council” under the chairmanship of late JJ Rawlings.
And the “Council” had the sole responsibility of appointing members of the judiciary, as judges were appointed by PNDC without any state agency to vet or check the appointment of members of the judiciary.
The heads of state institutions and agencies were appointed by the “Council” and their appointments could be revoked unilaterally by the “Council”. For obvious reasons, some features, practices and conventions of the PNDC regime were incorporated into the 1992 Constitution and became constitutionalised and legalised to maintain the status quo.
Folks, Don’t misconstrue me; I’m not criticising the PNDC regime, but as a student of politics, I am only analysing the political situation during the PNDC regime.
Society is dynamic and not static and the 1992 Constitution ought to be amended after 28 years of its promulgation to address the defects in our current democratic dispensation.
The current hung Parliament is an opportunity for us to restart the work of the Constitutional Review Commission(CRC). This will bring about the needed far-reaching constitutional and political reforms in our democratic dispensation.
Thanks
Alhaji Alhassan Mbalba
Chairman
NDC- UK/Ireland Chapter