On an Accra radio station at mid-day today, the National Chairman of the NPP Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey declared that making changes to the 1992 Constitution would not be a priority matter if his party won the December 2012 elections. If this really represents the view of the NPP, then Ghanaians must turn out and vote massively against that party and its Presidential Candidate. Indeed, the NPP’s Presidential Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo must come out and confirm or deny his party Chairman’s position on this very important matter.
We are alarmed that the NPP National Chairman, himself an aspiring Presidential Candidate in 2007 and a high-ranking minister of state for over six years could tell the public today that the 1992 Constitution has served the country well so there is no good reason to consider the implementation of the recommendations coming from the Constitutional Review Commission as an important national issue.
If he were to go back to the first term of the Kufuor Administration, he would find the promise made then to prepare the way for the election of DCEs among other changes to the Constitution. Perhaps he did not agree then with the President he served under. Perhaps Nana Akufo-Addo did not agree with the policy of the Administration he served at that time. Perhaps the NPP in subsequent elections since 2000 has toyed with the feelings and desires of the people on this matter.
The NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo must clear the air on this important matter. The 2012 campaign is about change that will improve the human condition and the prosperity of our people. This country cannot stand still or go backward. Those who do not support change must not get in the people’s way.
The Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), after listening to Ghanaians from all walks of life made recommendations to amend the 1992 Constitution. It was not a frivolous exercise. For example, the CRC recommended in its report that article 243(1) be amended to make the position of DCEs elective through universal adult suffrage as pertains at the Presidential and Parliamentary levels. This recommendation is a very important one that must be retained and supported.
Again, the NPP National Chairman got it wrong when he said on radio today that changing the 1992 Constitution will not put food on the table and is not a “…bread and butter” issue. It may not be bread and butter but the right changes can put money in the pocket of the ordinary Ghanaian for kenkey and fish through accelerated development at the local level. Changing the constitution will reduce corruption which will make more money available to create jobs that will put good food on the table of millions of Ghanaians.
We wish to reiterate the position of the PPP on the 1992 Constitution. This important national document needs to be amended to bring it into line with the aspirations of our people in the 21st Century. We must give power to the people and let them elect their own metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives without interference from the President.
We must separate the Executive from the Legislature for effective checks and balances, we must separate the Office of Attorney General from that of the Ministry of Justice to remove partisanship and strengthen our resolve in the war against corruption. The President of the Republic must pay tax. We must empower the Ghanaian diaspora and encourage them to bring their human and financial resources home to development our country.
The NPP’s National Chairman has got it wrong. Real change must come to Ghana. The PPP is the Change Ghana Needs!
Awake Ghana!
Richmond Keelson
PPP Director of Communications
July 16, 2012
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