1992 Constitution Needs Comprehensive Review – Jantuah

Kwame Jantuah, a private legal practitioner has said that the 1992 constitution must go through a comprehensive review after 30 years of existence.

Speaking on Asaase Radio’s news analysis and current affairs show – The Forum – on Saturday (30 April), Jantuah said “the constitution is a living document and because it’s a living document, some of us feel 30 years is a long time. Many things have changed; we’re now a youthful population, technology is taking over, mindsets have changed and certain occupations that weren’t alive 30 years ago are now alive today. And so, yes, there has to be a change of the constitution and if not a change, a review.

“We should have a clause in the constitution where it stipulates reviewing the constitution after a certain duration of time because it’s a living document. And that’s one thing that I felt the president will also talk about. The mere fact that to some degree the constitution has served us, however, there are some parts of the constitution that needs to be looked at that need to be reviewed.”

He added, “it is not a question of partisan politics. It’s a question of national consensus whereby because the constitution is the supreme law of the land, we all need to sit around the table and discuss it. And because we spent over US$6 million looking at the review process of the constitution, it’ll be the best place to start.”

Challenges

According to Jantuah, the constitution has had its fair share of challenges that have not helped the progress of the country.

He said: “Although we have a constitution, has party manifestos helped us? I mean, look at the challenges we’ve had with the electoral system, look at the challenges we’ve had with even Parliament, look at the challenges we’ve had with the executive, and to some degree, the challenges we’ve had with the judiciary and we have a constitution, should we not look at it [constitution]? Look at the fundamental human rights issues in the constitution, there are so many areas that perhaps need a review.”