Report by Nana POKU
The Director of Administration of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Akuamoah has called for the need to bring back the abortive effort to make the positions of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) elective. He has said that the proposal must be reconsidered to truly remove the hands of the Presidency from the appointing process
Mr. Akuamoah was speaking to the Daily Searchlight on the sidelines of a press conference by the National Commission of Civic Education, (NCCE) to herald a week-long commemoration of 30 long years of democratic rule in Ghana.
Some activities have been lined up for the week. The interaction took place at the head office of the NCCE in Accra. Addressing the media, the Director of Administration, Mr Akuamoah traced the genesis of constitutional rule in Ghana from the First Republic to the present 4th one that has stood the test of time for 30 solid years and intimated that this calls for a national celebration.
He stated that the NCCE instituted the annual Constitutional Week from January 2001 to date for the country’s return to democratic regime after many turbulent trials in the past. Mr Akuamoah highlighted on some significant green points of the Constitution like: Media Freedom, Fundamental Human Rights, Peaceful Coexistence, National Cohesion, Political Stability, among others.
He called on Ghanaians to jealously guard and protect our current dispensation which has eluded many African countries; especially religious tolerance that is totally absent in some jurisdictions.
Nevertheless, he also spoke against some grey areas in our current constitution that need to be addressed stressing that a constitution that been used for 30 long years must be reviewed. He touched on some problematic areas like; Winner Takes All Phenomenon, Executive Involvement in the Legislature, Abuse of Media Freedom, Executive Over-bearance and Power, Quasi Control Over Some Constitutional Bodies, etc.
The Speaker advised Ghanaians to stand up against any attempt by any regime that may try to take away the people’s Rights, Freedom, Universal Adult Suffrage, Rule of Law, Unity and Stability of Ghana, etc.
Mr Akuamoah intimated that as Ghanaians celebrate the 30 years of constitutional rule, its incumbent on all of us to discuss the relevance of the country’s governing document of 1992.
He charged all Ghanaians to determine the way forward to collectively strive to consolidate the gains of the Constitution irrespective of its defects. He argued that a constitution that had survived for 30 years cannot be said to be unworthy or outmoded document.
Therefore as he put it aptly; all stakeholders including the Media must strongly play their roles very well to safeguard our guaranteed rights, opportunities, freedoms and liberties in the Constitution.
He also explained why the reforms and changes recommended by the Constitutional Review Commission led by its Chairman, Prof Fiadjoe in 2010 under JEA Mills have unfortunately stalled to date and assured the media that the commission will revisit its implementation. He took the occasion to educate the media on other activities of the commission which the public is unaware; their mandate and functions as we well their achievements so far. He vehemently disagreed that they have slept on their duties and urged the media to throw more light on their efforts and visit their website for more information to educate the citizens.
(The Daily Searchlight appears every day on the newsstands and is for sale 24 hours every day and all week on www.ghananewsstand.com. Visit www.ghananewsstand.com for a wide variety of newspapers published in Ghana and from across the world.)
