Members of the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee (CRIC) on Friday met with the Catholic Bishops Conference to brief them on the progress it had made since it was inaugurated.
CRIC, which is an offshoot of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), was inaugurated in October 2012 to implement the recommendations of the Government White Paper on the CRC.
Briefing the Bishops, Prof Emmanuel Victor Dankwah, CRIC Chairman, said the proposed reforms mainly included proposed bills for amendment and preparing Ghanaians for a referendum on the changes to some entrenched provisions in the 1992 Constitution.
“Some of the entrenched issues that we would very soon hold a referendum on is about the whether the President should pay tax, and also how and who should determine the emoluments of parliamentarians,” he added.
“Our work also includes coming out with developing administrative reforms for the various government agencies, development of legislations where applicable and a referendum in the case of amending an entrenched provision of the constitution,” he said.
He said the recommendations by the CRC were a lot which required them to handle them one after the other and advise the agencies concerned.
“Our work is also to summarise the salient points of the CRC report into brochures that would also be translated into our local languages for all to benefit,” he said.
Prof Dankwah said in the cause of their work, one of the areas that Ghanaians expressed concerns as far as human rights were concerned were the wellbeing of the aged and persons with disability.
“We also observed that instead of the usual 48 hours required by law to be the maximum days for one to be detained without trial, or being sent to the court, the Military has a policy which can make them detain someone for as much as 90 days before any court,” he said.
“This, we felt was not right as it goes contrary to the laws of the land and we have written to them on the matter,” he said.
Prof Dankwah said the CRIC did not answer questioned pertaining to gay rights because it did not have the right to as it was only the Supreme Court which had the right to determine that issue.
He said the committee would also develop legislative proposals for legislative changes recommended by the Constitution Review Commission and also help in the implementation of administrative actions.
He said the Committee, which is expected to complete it work by the end of the year, had also been tasked to develop and report on the public reactions to the Government White Paper and the Constitution amendment bills for both the entrenched and non-entrenched provisions of the constitution.
Bishop Joseph Osei- Bonsu, President, Catholic Bishops Conference, expressed his appreciation to the Committee for the briefing.
He noted that the Catholic Church was not only concerned about the spiritual wellbeing of Ghanaians but their social wellbeing too.
