NDC government has effectively rubbished the voice of Ghanaians in constitutional reform

The Constitution Review Commission (CRC) was established to give the people of Ghana an authentic voice in shaping our governance. Yet, a critical look at the Government’s White Paper exposes a stark reality:

70.1% Rejected or Overridden: Out of 157 recommendations born directly from nationwide citizen consultations, 110 were NOT accepted as proposed.

Over 38% Rejected Outrightly: 60 recommendations which are direct feedback from the Ghanaian public were discarded entirely.

Nearly 32% Substituted: 50 recommendations were rejected and replaced with the government’s own legislative alternatives.

Only 14% Fully Accepted: A mere 22 out of 157 citizen-backed proposals were accepted without modification.

By overriding 7 out of every 10 proposals, the Government has transformed a national democratic consultation into a selective political exercise by the NDC Government.

When a Government rejects, modifies, or replaces 70.1% of the recommendations emerging from an elaborate public process, it is no longer listening to the people but deciding for the people what they should want.

In effect, it is telling Ghanaians: "Thank you for your views, but we will rewrite your Constitution as we the NDC Government deems fit."

This raises a legitimate and the ultimate democratic question: If the views of Ghanaians were important enough to warrant a nationwide consultation, why are 70% of those views being discarded? Was the CRC consultation process necessary? In all fairness, a Constitutional reform must reflect the supreme will of the citizens, not the selective preference of the incumbent executive.

When the outcome of a public consultation is overridden on this scale, the Government ceases to be a custodian of the people's voice. It cannot be said to be a listening government. In this case, the government has become the sole architect of the Constitution. Very unfortunate!

#MEN@WORK