US vs Ghana constitutions: Why our problem is not our constitution – Dr Arthur Kennedy explains

A one-time flagbearer hopeful of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Arthur Kennedy, has explained that calls by persons from across several sectors of the country for the country to have a constitutional review is not what Ghana needs to solve its many problems.

He explained that these calls are not necessarily what Ghana needs, and neither is it anything to do with ideas.

Comparing the situation of Ghana’s constitution with that of the United States of America, Dr. Kennedy said that if it had to do with size, then Ghana should have been in a better place because of the size of its document as against that of the latter.

He stressed that in terms of ideas for development and growth of the country, it is evident that there have been a lot since the era of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

“Leet me debunk a few myths before I go on to the main points I want to make, first, I’ve heard a lot of Ghanaians, including some of your speakers talk about constitutional reforms. Unfortunately, our problem is not constitutional reforms or ideas. Indeed, when you talk about ideas from Nkrumah’s 7-year development plan up to NADAA’s Free SHS, we’ve had ideas.

“The problem is a situation, and to show that, I have here in my hand a copy of Ghana’s 1992 constitution – about 350 pages, that’s in my left hand, and in my right hand, there’s a copy of the US constitution, including the articles of consideration. And this is less than 100 pages. You can see them side by side: 250 years and counting and they have a constitution about a third the one that we have. Our problem, therefore, is not our constitution,” he explained.

Dr. Arthur Kennedy made these comments while speaking on JoyNews during its Joy Change Series, Diaspora Edition.

Dr. Arthur Kennedy, a physician, author and activist, is currently based in the USA and was speaking on the topic, ‘The Problem with Ghana.’

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AE