Open Letter To Lawyer Barker-Vormawor

Good Day Lawyer,

Please I write to you on Workers Day (May Day) to congratulate, the Leadership of Fix the Country Group especially, you Lawyer Oliver Barker-Vormawor, for leading a crusade for the Government (Executive, Parliament and Judiciary) and all Workers to Fix the Country, as result of the economic problems of and bad governance in the Country thus pushing for the efficient and effective management of the resources of this Country for the wellbeing of the Citizenry.

Please Lawyer Barker-Vormawor, sitting from afar and hearing what some of your spoke persons have been communicating in public, so far gives a wrong picture of your Group which is a real non-partisan Group (not aligned to one of the Political Parties) and also not dealing with spiritual lives of the people like personnel of Jehovah Witness but trying to influence the way this Country is governed.

So the allegation that it is non-political or apolitical is a confusion, because every human being is a Citizen to a State and therefore has Citizenship Obligation to perform, hence he is a Political element or animal of the Society, thus once you are leaving in a political area or travel within a political areas your actions would have influence in the political affairs of the area or the Country or the life of the people, hence you cannot therefore be said to be non-political much particularly your actions have political undertones, so the right word is non-partisan politics. It is also appeared that the Group is poorly organized may be because lack of info on certain issues and or it is based on voluntarism or comradeship and the false claim that it is non-political.

Sir, as stated, politics is about the affairs of the State the way of life of the Citizenry (their microeconomics/other activities) and the governance of the resources of a Country (dealing with macroeconomics, Security, Education, Health and Utility and other services for the citizenry/other assets of the Country), hence a Group interesting in seeing good government especially good running of the economic and adherence to the fundamental Rights of the Citizenry, cannot be said to be non-political.

Sir, Most Scholar regard the Military as a Political Institution for Statecraft since the Military organization is part of the National Resources or assets or elements of National Security normally used for Statecraft or in the Political running or the government or management of a State by a Political head say the President or Chairman of Regional Security Council.

So, the Department of Defence (DOD) of the USA or the USA Armed Forces have a policy that the troops must be non-partisan since they are perform Citizenship Obligations, they may vote in a Political election but not to influence it, also they collectively participate in civic actions and some

very important national activities. Lastly, they can occupy civil or public offices as long as their duties will not have direct effect on their Military duties or their Units. Hence they cannot be non-political. An active Military Officer can be appointed to occupy Civil Office or Public Office say Director General of National Lottery, Chief Executive etc, So one may that the State Security elements should be non-partisan but they are involved in Politics at least some of their also sometimes influence or control the lives of the Citizen hence it is both Social and political and not spiritual lives of the Citizenry.

Soldiers or the Military personnel in USA, are allowed to attend Political Party speeches, rallies when only in mufti or civilian clothing, they cannot occupy political party offices or make huge contribution to a Political Party, sponsor a candidate or take part in real campaign. Due to the African attitude, allowing Soldiers to attend party speeches etc like in the USA may be a problem in Ghana. But, I am sure that was the reason the late General Acheampong came out with the UNIGOV idea. A non-partisan Government (that is Government of the State devoid of Political Parties associated with the rancor and acrimony tendencies or risks, hmm, you may say one Party State) in which the Military and Civilian were to run the Nation. I have a copy with me in case you want to read more on UNIGOV.

So Sir, you need to be reminded or informed about the words of our best and great and uncorrupted ex-Head of State or ex-National Leader as at date, namely Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, that ‘Organization decides everything’. So, I think it is high time you get experts among the lot to help you to restructure the Fix the Country Group, so that you can get competent people to speak on the pertinent national issues to give the Organization which is political one but currently not aligned to any of the existing Political Parties, the credibility (truthfulness, authority or influence or weight, reliability) it deserved that it is fighting for the wellbeing of the Citizen thus help change the narrative of the Politics of the Nation.

Sir, you as a seasoned Lawyer and academician need not to informed about Nationalists activities since 1956, especially the rise for Nationalism in 1990, or the events or the circumstance that led to the establishment of the Fourth Republic or Constitutional Rule, hence events that led to the emergence of the 1992 Constitution which was voted by 93% of the Citizenry on 28 April 1992, the highest vote for a Constitution in the history of Ghana. This Constitution ushered the Fourth Republic thus demo the people’s interest in a Unitary State in a Democratic Dispensation by Constitutional Rule. Therefore any attempt to jettison the 1992 Constitution must be crashed (stopped) and the affected person(s) prosecuted.

I wish and pray that you could please work on your stance (posture) and utterances because it does not portray a very good leadership style because as a leader or one of the leaders, you must first appreciate that the Fourth Republic State of Ghana is governed by the 1992 Constitution/laws and the 1992 Constitution was approved by 93% of the Citizens, which demonstrated the people of Ghana interest for Constitutional Rule by the 1992 Constitution. So the Constitution embodies Popular Sovereignty. That is the 1992 Constitution ensures the sovereignty of Ghana resides in the Citizenry or the People of Ghana in whose name and for

whose welfare the powers of government are to be exercised in the manner and within the limits laid down in the Constitution. Sir, below are quotations of Article 1 and Article 2 of the 1992 Constitution which are on the Supremacy of the Constitution and the Enforcement of the Constitution respectively which you need to read and ponder on both Articles.

Supremacy of the Constitution at Article 1 of the 1992 Constitution

1) The Sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people of Ghana in whose name and for whose welfare the powers of government are to be exercised in the manner and within the limits laid down in this Constitution. (2) This Constitution shall be the supreme law of Ghana and any other law found to be inconsistent with any provision of this Constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.

Enforcement of the Constitution at Article 2 of the 1992 Constitution

2 (1) A person who alleges that - (a) an enactment or anything contained in or done, under the authority of that or any other enactment; or (b) any act or omission of any person is inconsistent with, or is in contravention of a provision of this Constitution, may bring an action in the Supreme Court for a declaration to that effect. (2) The Supreme Court shall, for the purposes of a declaration under clause (1) of this article, make such orders and give such directions as it may consider appropriate for giving effect, or enabling effect to be given, to the declaration so made.

(3) Any person or group of persons to whom an order or direction is addressed under clause (2) of this article by the Supreme Court, shall duly obey and carry out the terms of the order or direction. (4) Failure to obey or carry out the terms of an order or direction made or given under clause (2) of this article constitutes a high crime under this Constitution and shall, in the case of the President or the Vice President, constitute a ground for removal from office under this Constitution. (5) A person convicted of a high crime under clause (4) of this article shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding ten years without the option of a fine; and (b) Not be eligible for election, or for appointment, to any public office for ten years beginning with the date of the expiration of the term of imprisonment.

Sir, Article 3 of the 1992 Constitution calls for the Defence of the Constitution, so you as a seasoned lawyer will agree with me that you statement about a Coup and saying the Army was useless was reckless, unprofessional and requires an apology to the Ghana Army and the people of Ghana, whose wellbeing the Fix the Country is working hard to see is achieved.

I must also admit that the action of the Police on the arrest of you and the way they detained you were also reckless, unprofessional and unconstitutional. Yes, the Police are required to take action against you for the reckless coup statement but the fact that this was made when you were outside Ghana and arrived in Ghana on your own from Britain without weapons or troops, the Citizenry expected the Police to invite you to report to them at an acceptable or appropriate

time and location or simply trail you (secretly monitor your movement or escort you) to your house and invite or arrest you as deemed fit and if you are flight risk or if they found prevent you may be disturbing the investigation, then detain you as laid down by law and if found culpable prosecute you as spelt out by the Constitution or the laws of Ghana. Failing that you as a lawyer knows that you have the option to go to Court to take action against the Police for acting against the Constitution and laws of Ghana in case your Rights have been infringed. So sir as a seasoned Lawyer, you need to demo Leadership for the youth to emulate.

Sir, your group has been talking of jettison of the Constitution, hence the Group needs to be well guided including arming members with the history of the evolution of Ghana from a quasi-federal State, through one party state/military regimes to the Current Unitary State under the Fourth Republic. So let me take a trip down memory lane.

Sir, before gaining independence, the Gold Coast or the territory now called Ghana was made of four indirectly self-administered British Colonies with native chiefs as Territorial Regional heads, thus the Chiefs formed the pivot of Britain’s indirect rule. Hence, each Region was autonomous with executive, legislative powers exercise independently by each Region with the Chief as Regional Head thus gave a resemblance of Federalism or Federal State of the Gold Coast.

But Sir, due to the rise for Nationalism in the 1950s or a continuation of the rise for Nationalism, the big six fought and brought Gold Coast under Independence on 6^th March 1957 under the 1957 Constitution which was based on the British Parliamentary system. This gave birth to this country named as Ghana with Dr Kwame Nkrumah as the Prime Minister and the Queen as the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, the Queens powers were exercised through Sir Charles Noble Aden-Clarke the Governor-General of the then Ghana (from 06 March 1957 to 24 June 1957) who took over from Lord Lsitowel who was the last Governor of the Gold Coast. Major General Henry Templar Alexander, was the British Army Officer as the last British Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces from 11 January 1960 to September 1961.

Enter the initial era of post-Independence under Prime Minister Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the Governor-General of Ghana left on 24 June 1957 and Dr Kwame Nkrumah In 1959 unconstitutionally abolished regional autonomies or the quasi-federal states regardless of Constitutional Safe Guards. He introduced Regional system of Government with Regional Ministers as the Political heads and brought Ghana into a full Unitary Government in the First Republic declared on 01 July 1960 with him as the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces (involved the Military and the Police Force because they were both armed elements of the State).

In September 1961 Dr Kwame Nkrumah sacked the then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Henry Alexander, a British and the British Military Officers in the Ghana Armed Forces by radio announcement at 9pm and replaced the CDS with Major General SJA Otu, as the first Ghanaian CDS with Ghanaian Military Officers appointed to support him. The 1960 Constitution was based

on the USA Presidential System, so Executive powers was vested in the President, he was the Head of State, Head of Government and Head of National Executive. So the Executive President as in most constitutions appoints the Chief Justice on the advice of the judiciary council and approval by Parliament. In line with the Doctrine from the Chinese that Civilian Authority must control the guns of the State or in line with the provisions of Constitutions of most countries or the doctrine of modern democratic States like USA, etc that the State Security Forces/Services must subordinate themselves to Civilian Authority, hence the President Commissions or appoints Officers in the Military from Second Lieutenant to the Field Marshal or General and appoints Senior Police Officers as Commissioners of Police (COP) with Commissioner number One as COP1 or the IGP. He also makes other appointments as dictated by the Constitution.

Dr Nkrumah’s regime was overthrown in a coup on 24 February 1966 and attempts to re- introduce federalism or Federal states failed in 1968. Enter the 1969 Constitution for a Unitary State with the Parliamentary System of Government which saw the Ceremonial President and the Prime Minster not elected by the whole State as their Constituencies but they emerged as President (then President Akuffo) who was nominated by a triumvirate Head of State system which then involved two Senior Military Officers and a Senior Police Officer and as a Prime Minister by a single Constituency and as the Majority Leader in Parliament respectively.

Per the 1969 Constitution, the majority leader in Parliament was made the Prime Minister. Note the Prime Minister was also a MP elected by one Constituency, the Wenchi Constituency elected Dr Busia as their MP (and not the whole Country as his Constituency) as in the 1969 Constitution with all his Ministers from Parliament.

Enter the NRC regime, which overthrew the Busia regime in 1972 in the few amenities coup due to the austerity budget or the tightening your belt regime of Dr Busia. Lt Colonel IK Acheampong was initially promoted by Dr Busia to secure his loyalty two days to his few Amenities Coup meant to protect the corporate interest of the Military and deal with alleged bad running of the government/economy. The Coup was organized by Colonel IK Acheampong in collaboration with three Army Officers namely Major Agbo then second-in-command of the First Battalion, Major Serlomey second-in-command of the Armourred Regiment and Major Baah the second-in- command of the Fifth Battalion. Col Acheampong was actually brought later to support the Coup and to lead the Revolution.

The then Head of State got promoted to the rank of General, hence General will be use hereafter for the rank of the then Head of State. He replaced the NRC with SMC in 1975 with very Senior Military Officers as members of the SMC with himself as the Chairman. Dropped the three Coup makers (Baah, Serlomey and Agbo), because General IK Acheampong saw them as a threat. Hmm you need to listen to the highlife Friends Today and Enemy Tomorrow.

General Acheampong, I must admit was one of the best Head of State for Ghana. Like Dr Kwame Nkrumah he did not only built infrastructure (which is the mediocre politics of today’s Ghana like

some of the people say naa infrastructure we go chop). He decided he will not go for foreign loans and as such he declared not or refused to payback foreign loans in his Yentua mantra.

General Acheampong, led the Citizenry to produce their needs in what he termed OPERATION FEED YOURSELF and truly speaking the then Citizenry initially responded well to their Leader and Ghana was able to make gains in the national economy. So General Acheampong was able to build a lot of infrastructures, like Kpong Power Station/Kpong Irrigation Projects, Dansoman Estate, stadium in each districts, the Kumasi Stadium, introduced SSNIT and SS NIT built the SSNIT Flats under his watch, established autonomous Regional Development Corporations in each of the then ten regions and built catering Rest houses or Hotels in each Regional Capital.

He also built low cost houses for low income workers. Put some factories in active operation including the then two sugar factories in Ghana. Constructed the Tono Irrigation Project in Navrongo. Introduced the National Service Scheme (NSS) in 1973 for two years National Services with one year with the Military.

To ensure the National Service personnel who will be with the Military for the One Year service together with some Military personnel take part in Agric activities, he established a Farm Unit in the Ghana Armed Forces named as the Ghana Armed Forces Farms in 1978. Sir, I was the last Commanding Officer of the Unit in 1992 and I fought very hard against the disbandment of the Unit because we made modest profit in my first year in Office, copy of my presentation to high Command and the commendations from high Command for my good achievement with me, more details on this as part of effort to help fix the Country) and constructed the Bontanga Irrigation Project in Tamale for the Ghana Armed Forces Farms. He established a Football Academy known in 1974 as SS74. Bought a Presidential Plane type Fokker 28 but never used it all or so much because he was afraid of flying in a Plane.

General Acheampong SMC1 made an attempt to arrest the rancor and acrimony (the high risks) normally associated with Party Politics as in Constitutional Rule, so, he came out with the idea of Union Government (UNIGOV), in which the State will be Governed by both the Military and Civilians. I have a copy of the UNIGOV concept in case you are interested in it to guide you.

Enter General Akuffo who toppled General Acheampong in a palace coup and changed SMC1 to SMC2. He kicked against the concept of UNIGOV and came out with a Programe to return Ghana to a Constitutional Rule, so the draft of the 1979 Constitution was initiated by him in 1978. As part of alleged measures to restore the corporate image of the Ghana Armed Forces, the Junior Officers and Junior ranks in the Military staged a coup on 4 June 1979 to usher in the June 4 Revolution under the AFRC with Flight Lieutenant JJ Rawlings made as the leader of the Revolution.

But due to pressures and other reasons, the AFRC pursued the 1979 Constitution and handed over to Dr Hilla Liman of the PNP which won both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections with majority seats in Parliament. Ministers under the 1979 Constitution were to be appointed from outside Parliament, a Member of Parliament appointed as MP must resigned as MP. The

PNP under Dr Liman did their best because they took over a bad economy state of Ghana, so they introduced 2 years Economy Recovery Programme, launched on 24 September 1979 to 24 September 1982 (I have a copy available if you want to know the content). The budget for 1981/1982 was defeated in Parliament because the President did not have Ministers in Parliament like today. A lesson leant for future Constitutions.

Enter the 31 December 1981 Coup which brought the PNDC which overthrew the Administration of the PNP, a Pro-CPP Presidency. The PNDC replaced the Local Councils system for local administration with the District Assemblies to bring Government closed to the people, established People Defence Committee, Workers Defence Committees in all Institutions including the Security Agencies, National Investigation Committee, Citizen Vetting Committee, Peoples Court and the Public Tribunal etc. The activities of the above named units or outfits led to an era of terror and confusion. There were seizure of assets, abduction, murder or killing including the murder of three High Court judges and a retired army officer after they were abducted from their homes during curfew hours on the night of June 30, 1982. The abduction, murder, Seizure of assets, settlement of personal scores etc Can you imagine a typist in a Company was made to be the Managing Director of State Company this was part of the confusion in the early parts of the Revolution.

The anarchy and confusion caused several attempted or alleged attempted coups to topple the PNDC. The first was the bravado of Lieutenant Peter Achana who attempted a sole Coup on 11 November 1982 by firing mortars towards the Osu Castle, the then seat of Government to topple the PNDC. This was followed by the alleged Coup in June 1983 by Cpl Carlos Halidu Giwa and others. Then an alleged Coup attempt by Major Twuamasi-Anto/Major John Ocran and others in April 1985. Then the alleged attempted to stage a Coup in 1985 by Kyeremeh Boakye Gyan, a final year Student of then UST. This was followed by an attempted coup against the PNDC by Major Courage Quasigah. This one forced the Chairman of the PNDC (Chairman Rawlings) and some of his guards to rush and take refuge at the Bulgarian Embassy and asked for political asylum but fortunately for him the Coup was foiled by some soldiers.

The activities of the People Court was so alarming and dishonest that even the Chairman of the PNDC doubted its integrity. So in 1983, Chief Justice F.K. Apaloo, the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court declared PDC courts illegal, and stated he had do so because no law has set up PDC courts and a court is legal only when it is created by law, secondly, in a trial in the regular courts, a person knows the law he has infringed and the penalty he is likely to suffer and he is given the opportunity to defend himself by a lawyer if he chooses to have one and none of these prerequisites existed in the PDC courts.

The anarchy and confusion made the PNDC era to be characterized as an era of Cultural of Silence as well. People especially Workers including Senior Military Officers were afraid speak on national issues and be seen holding or reading private newspapers like the Daily Guide, Chronicle, Free Press, the Catholic Church Standard etc in public. The Catholic Church with their Catholic Church Standard was the very vibrant institution against the PNDC.

The situation between 31 December 1981 and January 1990, was so tensed that it caused the rise for Nationalism by some patriotic citizens, the Movement for Justice (MFJ) emerged with Professor Adu- Boahen as the Chairman, then Lawyer Nana Addo (now President of Ghana) and others as members formed this Political Pressure Group and demanded for a return to Constitutional Rule..

So, June 1990 and afterwards saw widespread of intense internal agitation against the Military dictatorship of the PNDC to hand over power to a Civilian Rule under democratic principles and this was supported by external pressures. The external pressure or forces included the USA, reputable organizations. These external pressures, forced the PNDC to come out with a programme for Constitutional Rule by 07 Jan 1993 despite the earlier rhetoric by the PNDC ‘Hand over Power to whom’.

Firstly, the PNDC tasked a National Commission for Democracy, then under the Chairmanship of the late Justice Daniel Annan to collect the views of the citizenry on the form of State Rule that is whether Federal Government or Unitary Government and the relevant requirements for the Constitutional Rule. The NCD toured the then 10 Regions of Ghana and came out with a Report which was submitted to the PNDC.

The NCD report among others talked of Unitary State or Unitary Government, thus fortified the interest of the Citizenry for the Unitary form of Ghana as against a Federal State. Based on that the PNDC set up subsequent stages towards Constitutional Rule by January 1993. These included, the preparation of a draft Constitution, a referendum to approve it, lifting the ban on political party activities, the campaigns period, dates for Presidential Election and Parliamentary Election, swearing of incoming Executive and Members of Parliament, promulgation of the 1992 Constitution by Parliament and the operation of the Constitution.

The 1992 Constitution was drafted from May 1991 to March 1992 by a very high class of intellectuals and seasoned personnel during the reign of the Military regime of the PNDC and as such Political Parties like the NDC and NPP were not in existence at that era at all and the draft of the 1992 Constitution was approved by 93 % of the people of Ghana by a referendum on 28th April 1992.

Firstly, in May 1991, the PNDC established a 9 members Committee of Expert for a Constitutional proposal and gave the Committee two months (June to July 1991) to submit proposals. The Committee of Experts was under the chairmanship of a first class Constitutional Expert or Lawyer, a fellow Ghanaian, who was provided/sponsored by United Nations system, in the person of Nana Dr KB Asante, then with the UN, now Asokorehene or Paramount Chief of Asokore Asante.

Members were Mrs. Justice Annie Jiagge, a retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Mr OL.J.Chinery-Hesse, a Former Chief Parliamentary Draftsman Parliamentary Draftsman, and AG’s Department, Mr. Ebo Bentsi-Enchill, a seasoned lawyer, Dr. K. Afari- Gyan (then a Lecturer in Political Science, University of Ghana), Dr Charles D. Jebuni then a Lecturer in Economics, University of Ghana.

Other members were Dr. E.V.O. Dankwa, then Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Ghana, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Dr. Agyemang-Badu, the Omanhene of Dormaa and Mrs. S. Ofori-Boateng, a Director of Legal Drafting AG’s Department, Member/Secretary. Volunteers included Professor Maxwell Owusu of the University of Michigan, Mr. Ansah-Asare and then Mr Benjamin Kumbuor were some of the research assistants. Consultants included Dr. Alex Quaison-Sackey and then Mr Kwamena Ahwoi.

Your members and the Citizenry especially the youth need to be informed that the 1992 Constitution was drafted by the above named persons, whose status tells the level of competency of the persons who came out with the proposals for the 1992 Constitution, hence they were not nonentities as perceived by some people.

The Experts outlined 17 areas for purposes of general discussion and formulation, these were Supremacy and Enforcement/Defence of the Constitution, Citizenship, Directive Principles of State policy, Fundamental Human Rights and Freedom, the Executive, the Council of State, the Legislature, Freedom and independence of the Media, Representation of the People and Consensus Democracy, Political Parties, the Judiciary, Administration of Land, Decentralization and Local Government, Chieftaincy, Economic and Financial Order, Public Administration, Amendment Procedure. Individual members were then assigned the task of preparing proposals covering specific/identified areas. The proposals were subjected to a general critique at the general assembly session. After that, the proposals were finalized.

Among others, the Experts recommended for an Executive President sharing power with a Prime Minister (who should be the Majority Leader in Parliament), the Council of State and Judiciary. The Committee handed over her report to the PNDC with a caveat or a strong demand that the PNDC should not make amendments or review of the Report. The PNDC duly accepted the report and did not make any amendment, so the PNDC handed same to the next stage which was the establishment and the nomination of the members of the Consultative Assembly to deliberate on it and come out with the draft of the Constitution.

In July 1991, the PNDC established a Consultative Assembly made of 260 members, but the Ghana Bar Association and National Union of Ghanaian Students in short NUGS did not provide Rep each, so the number of the Consultative Assembly members was reduced to 258 members with the late Chiana Pe Roland Ayagitam 1, (my god father) as the President. The Consultative Assembly studied the Report of the committee of Expert, the report of the NCD, previous Constitutions, and Constitution of some Countries and communicated same to the citizenry (Stakeholders) and deliberated on the views of the Citizenry based on the reports of both the NCD, the Report or recommendations of the Committee of Experts and the previous Constitutions of Ghana.

The 258 members of the Consultative Assembly were made of 121 members appointed by 62 corporate groups, 117 members indirectly elected by District Assemblies and 22 members

appointed by the PNDC. The Consultative Assembly was given up to 31 December 1991 to submit the draft of the 1992 Constitution to the PNDC.

The Citizenry and the Consultative Assembly accepted some of the reports of the Committee and they rejected some of the recommendations including the proposal for an Executive President sharing power with a Prime Minister and opted for an Executive President based on the Executive Presidency of the USA, with a huge appointing Authority granted to the Executive President or Head of the National Executive same as in most Constitutions in the World, South Africa, Nigeria, USA etc. The Executive President to share power with the Legislature, Judiciary and the Council of State in a Check and Balance system as propounded by Montesquieu in his Separation of Powers Doctrine.

The draft of 1992 Constitution was completed and handed over to the PNDC in March 1992 by the Consultative Assembly. Justice Daniel Annan and others consulted some members of the Consultative Assembly for the addition of the Indemnity Clause as in both the 1969 and 1979 Constitutions to also indemnify the members of the PNDC and associates. So, the draft of 1992 Constitution with the Indemnity Clause was actually based in the letter and spirit of the 1979 Constitution but little differences from the 1979 Constitution. You may Google for the 1979 Constitution to see the similarities and differences. Also it was the then Chief Justice, Chief Archer who supported the addition of the Regional Tribunals as at Article 142 of 1992 Constitution. The 1992 Constitution was then approved by 93 % of the people of Ghana by a referendum on 28th April 1992.

Some of the differences between the 1979 Constitution and the 1992 Constitution are that the 1979 Constitution requires the President to appoint his Ministers of State outside Parliament and a member of Parliament who was elected as a Minister had to resign from Parliament but the 1992 Constitution requires the President to choose half of the Minister of States from Parliament and the appointed Ministers are not required to resign their Parliamentary Membership. Ombudsman in the 1979 Constitution became the CHRAJ in the 1992 Constitution.

The Indemnity Clause was lifted from the Indemnity Clause of the 1979 Constitution which indemnified the members and associates of the NLC, NRC, SMC, AFRC from legal actions. The Indemnity Clause of the 1992 Constitution as expected added the PNDC to the list of the Military Regimes of the NLC, NRC, SMC and AFRC which were indemnified by the 1979 Constitution as part of Peace or Stability and Reconciliation requirements. Hence, the Indemnity Clause of the 1992 Constitution was not smuggled in by the PNDC as alleged but it was a mandatory requirements emanating from both the 1969 Constitution and 1979 Constitution to ensure Peace or Stability and Reconciliation.

Enter NDC1 that this the first term of the Rawling’s Regime, which had Flt Lt JJ RawlIngs as the first Executive President of the Fourth Republic. Parliament clothed with the Power to amend the Constitution, did so in 1996. Among others, Article 8 was amended to allow Dual Citizenship which was prohibited in the initial stage.

Enter the President Mills Administration during which action was initiated in 2010 to cause major amendments of the 1992 Constitution by Parliament. That is in 2010, President Mills commissioned a Constitution Review Commission (CRC) to collect and collate the views of the Citizenry on the 1992 Constitution for possible amendments. The Report of the CRC and the White paper on it are available on the internet by Googling for the Report of Ghana’s Constitutional Review Commission.

Your members must be informed about the Recommendations of the Constitution Review Commission and the Government White paper. Both upheld the Appointments (Appointing Authority) by the Executive President who is the Head of State and Head of the National Executive. Information that 1992 Constitution was modelled or based partly on the Executive Presidential System of the USA need to be made known to the public.

Both the CRC’s Report and the Government White paper only indicated that the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the Deputies; the Chairman and other members of the National Commission for Civic Education, the Chairman and the Deputy Chairmen and other members of the Electoral Commission, the Auditor-General and the Chairman and members of the Independent Emoluments Commission must be appointed by the President but in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of Parliament.

The CRC’s Recommendations and the Government White paper upheld the appointment of the IGP, CDS, and Military Services Commanders, Director General of Prison, Chief Fire Officer, and Director General of Immigration by the President as in the 1992 Constitution. This is to ensure Civilian Authority is in control of the gun. The Authority to deploy the Military to support the Police in internal Security operations resides with the President.

Based on the Police request through the Minister for Interior if time permits otherwise direct to the Presidency, the President does the deployment of the Military on the advice of the National Security Council or National Security Coordinator or and may be the National Security Adviser. A Regional Minister may do so, based on request from the Police and act in case of emergency or call for Emergency meeting on the recommendations made at a meeting of the Regional Security Council, he approves the Military support to the Police.

Sir, armed with the above information, I pray and hope you and your members of the Pressure Group would appreciate that Ghana is running a Constitutional Democracy with various issues, hence please effect restructuring of the Pressure Group and delineate areas for each subunit of the Group to deal with national pertinent issues. The group for Constitutional and legal matters should not only be shouting from the top of the roof about jettison or the amendments of the 1992 Constitution which embodies popular Sovereignty but rather present proposals and pursue Constitutional Reviews or amendments through Parliament, which has the authority to do so.

For Type of Government /Constitutional Rule we have three options namely a Constitution for Federal Government or State, Constitution for Unitary State or Constitution for UNIGOV type

General Acheampong proposal (which people say is absurd). For matters on the appointments by the President the value will be same because the President is the Head of National Executive.

Sir as for me, I consider the current Unitary State governed by the 1992 Constitution as ok. The problem with since its inception is bad leadership. For instance, the government has set up parallel institutions at the Presidency, we have the Vice President and a shadow Prime Minster or Senior Minister. Ghana also have and existing Director General for Education and yet we have established a Directorate General for TEVET with a Director General, the Directorate will need special Headquarters and staffing we are just adding cost to cost. Again, Article 85 of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that No establishment or other Organization concerned with National Security shall be established except as provided for this Constitution.

Hence the Ministry of National Security set up by the current administration with armed personnel is both unconstitutional and superfluous. It is very ridiculous, the current regime has a National Security Coordinator, National Security Adviser and Minister for National the Ministry of National Security, Minister for Interior and with the IGP for internal security matters. This is against the principle of unity Command that is one mission one boss. So personnel may choose to pick who they should pass intelligence or obey. It was not a surprise that a very seasoned and respected former IGP, when he appeared before the Committee for the Ayawaso Wuagon Constituency bye-election palaver, was not aware of or could not answer for DSP Azugu and others in special uniform and with vehicles labelled as SWAT Team under National Security and not the IGP or the Police.

It is envisaged the personnel are not given proper training/code of service discipline/clear operational orders. So, no wonder four of the guards who were in uniform and went to vote in a Political Party’s Constituency election at Ayawaso North were arrested by the Police on 28 April 2022 for wearing Uniform which resemblance that of the Police. This is a recipe for anarchy or security threats.

Sit, It must be noted that, Government responsibilities among is to provide the enabling environment for the growth or expansion of the Private Sector. It has been noted that due to the attitude of Ghanaians, some entrepreneurs employ foreigners especially Indians to work for them. So while pushing for the Government to fix the Country you need also to call on workers to be honest and hardworking to prevent the employment of foreigners.

Best regards

Signed

Major Mohammed Bogobiri (Rtd)