President John Dramani Mahama has commended the Constitutional Review Committee for delivering a comprehensive report, describing it as a “beautiful Christmas gift” to Ghanaians and pledging a swift transition from review to implementation after the holidays.
Speaking at the official presentation of the report by Professor H. Kwasi Mensah, the committee chairman, President Mahama expressed profound gratitude for the panel’s meticulous work.
He highlighted the careful selection of members based on their “integrity and credibility,” noting that previous review efforts had faltered due to partisan divisions.
“There’s not much more to say, just to thank you for this beautiful Christmas gift,” Mahama stated.
“I want to thank all the members of the committee. You were chosen carefully for your integrity, your credibility… This time, we said, let’s choose the committee very carefully so that it’s a committee that Ghanaians have trust in, so that when the report comes, it would be nonpartisan. It would not have been influenced by any political interest.”
The President defended the 1992 Constitution as Ghana’s “most durable,” crediting it with steadying the nation but emphasizing the need for updates to ensure its longevity.
“A time comes when you need to look at it and make some adjustments so that it can serve us for an even longer period going into the future,” he remarked.
Mahama revealed he had previewed some recommendations earlier, avoiding the surprise felt by other attendees.
He teased key proposals, including reforms to the Council of State’s role in presidential appointments, which he said would enhance credibility by shifting more responsibility to the council while preserving the President’s final sign-off.
“I take, for instance, the issue of the Council of State and the enormous powers the government, the president, is giving to make appointments. I believe that the Council of State’s giving a bigger role in those appointments will create more credibility in terms of people who are appointed to those positions. Of course, the president will still sign the appointment letters. But the Council of State will go through the process of identifying the persons to be appointed. So these are all some of the teasers I was giving before, which you are now hearing,” President Mahama stressed.
Looking ahead, the President announced plans to form an Implementation Committee early next year, drawing on the review panel’s expertise for “institutional memory.”
“As soon as we resume early next year, we’re moving from the constitutional review process into the implementation process,” he affirmed.
“For now, we’ll study the report. I’ve handed it over to the legal counsel and the attorney general to look at it. And we’ll see how to synchronise our views. I think that many of the recommendations you’ve made are quite revolutionary. Some are quite radical.”
President Mahama continued, “But I think that it’s in the interest of our democracy. Currently, in our sub-region, we can see many countries backsliding. We will implement it in a bipartisan manner.”
Mahama dismissed any notion of shelving the report, insisting it must not become a “nuclear secret.”
“Now that we’ve received it, I mean, I don’t want it to be kept like a nuclear secret. So we probably would have to decide on a date to publish it so that all Ghanaians know what is in the summary while we wait for the actual detailed copy.”
Source: www.Kumasimail.com
