Fixing The Country - Open Letter To The Citizens Of Ghana On Some National Issues

Dear Fellow Ghanaians.
First of all, I wish you are all fine. Please let me take this opportunity to express merry X’mas in advance to you.

My fellow responsible patriotic citizens, matters on the 1992 Constitution and the economy have been placed on the front burner of late and it is sad that some respected intelligentsias, lawyers and CSOs in the Country may be for reason best known to themselves have woefully failed to apply common sense (logical reasoning) or read and appreciate the history of the political economy of this great nation. Instead of holding the reputations of the proponents of the 1992 Constitution in high esteem, they have been degrading the intelligence and the boldness of the senior citizens both dead and alive who fought for constitutional government from the dictatorial rule of the PNDC and came out with a brilliant 1992 Constitution.

A Constitution, which survived the vicissitudes of the life of this Country and gave over 30 years stability to the Fourth Republic of Ghana. So this Constitution of the Nation should not be thrown away as suggested by some citizens. But like the USA Constitution, which is the oldest Constitution in the World, our Constitution only requires amendments to deal with the changes of the politics (way of life) and economy of the Country.

Some of these our young compatriots must stop degrading the boldness and intelligence of the proponents of the 1992 Constitution, and rather take time to do proper research for them to appreciate that the 1992 Constitution represents or relates to popular sovereignty and the Constitution was initially drafted by a Committee of Constitutional Experts chaired by a global respected fellow Ghanaian, currently the Paramount Chief of Asante Asokore, namely Dr SKB Asante who is a Constitutional Expert (seasoned lawyer) and was nominated by the HQ of the United Nations to lead in the drafting of the 1992 Constitution. Hence, it was drafted with the support of the United Nations and was not made to satisfy the Chairman of the then PNDC as perceived by some citizens.

A research by them will revealed that the Dr SKB Asante’s Committee of Constitutional Experts ensured that the PNDC did not make any amendment to the Constitution, so it was handed over with the seal intact jointly by the Chairman of the Committee of Constitutional Experts and the late Justice Annan, who was a member of the PNDC and the Chairman of a Commission for Democracy to the Consultative Assembly’s President, who was the late Pi Roland Adiali Ayagitam, the First, who was then the Paramount Chief of Chiana in the Upper East Region, who happened at that to be my god father (he obtained scholarship for my secondary school education at both Navrongo Secondary School and TI Ahmaddiyya Secondary School in Kumasi).

Luckily in 1992, I was then the Commanding Officer of the defunct Ghana Armed Forces Farm which was set up in 1978 by the late General Acheampong, as part of the OPERATIONS FEED YOURSELF Program and together with other Military Officers, we were among the audiences or participants for the deliberations of the Consultative Assembly especially anytime the Assembly held deliberations within reach of the Military in Accra, Sunyani and Tamale (due to the subunits of the Unit at these areas). Hence as required by the 1992 Constitution, let us ensure to uphold, defend and protect it and help in providing contributions for amendments of the Constitution.

Fellow Citizens, it is important to proclaim that like the previous Constitutions of Ghana (1957,1966, 1979), the Indemnity Clause was added to the 1992 Constitution after the late Justice Annan, then the Chairman of National Commission for Democracy, who was also a member of the PNDC negotiated with both the Chairman of the Committee of Constitutional Expert and the Chairman of the Consultative Assembly for measures to idemntify the members of pervious military regimes of the NLC, NRC, SMC1, SMC2, AFRC and PNDC. This is a normal practice with the Constitution of a Country and not to please anyone or the late Papa J but for the interest of everyone living in Ghana or doing business with Ghana

As stated, the 1992 Constitution represents popular sovereignty of the people of Ghana, hence for the interest of the Nationals of Ghana and non-citizens living in Ghana which was decided and promulgated in 1992 by popular majority of the Citizens of Ghana in a referendum. Hence, Article 1 of the 1992 constitution which is on the Supremacy of the Constitution stipulates that 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.

Fellow Citizens, it is true that some of the proponents of the 1992 constitution did not have university degrees but certainly had common sense and some were educated up to school certificate level (Middle School, Secondary School, Training College and Technical schools, University etc,), so the members of the Consultative Assembly all persons who took part in the deliberations of the Assembly did understand national issues. So during the stakeholders engagement or the public participation in the deliberations of the Consultative Assembly, some of the recommendations of the Committee of Constitutional experts like an option of a President and a Prime Minister were thrown away and opted for tweaking the provisions of the 1979 Constitution.

So the doubting compatriots must compare the 1992 Constitution with that of the 1979 Constitution, check on the Constitution of USA or Nigeria as well as read both the report of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) which was set up by the regime of the late President Mills and the Government white paper on the Report of the CRC, and will be informed of the letter and spirit (the intention and wisdom) of the proponents of the 1992 Constitution, especially the need for a democratic constitutional government which gives enough power to the executive to act at the National but without so much power that will put fundamentals human rights at a jeopardy or risk, hence the remedial measures among others was or is the establishment of three Arms of Government, namely the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary with clear Separation of Powers, with checks and balances on those powers to assure no arm of Government gained supremacy. Another check was or is the provision of the Council of State for advisory role to the three Arms of Government, National Institutions and NGOs/CSOs and quasi-legislative role especially on amendments of the Constitution.

Fellow Ghanaians, our Constitution like the Constitution of the USA or the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria delineates a Presidential System of Government with National Executive powers vested in the President, because he is the Head of State, Head of National Executive, Head of Government and Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces of Ghana. To reduce the control of the President by a political party, so unlike the Constitution of Nigeria, the Presidential candidates for the National election of a President in Ghana need not necessary have to come from or sponsored by a political party nor both the President and his freely nominated Deputy as Vice President must come from the same political party. Hence, independent Presidential Candidates are allowed by the 1992 Constitution.

To reduce cost in campaign since the Constituency of the President is the whole of Ghana, and since Political parties are wining machinery for elections, the Presidents of Ghana in the past elections won the elections with the ticket or support of political parties. A strange aspect of the 1992 Constitution which needs a rethinking is that it allows the Presidential candidate of one Political party to have the choice of pairing with nominees for Vice Presidential candidature from a different or friendly political party, as happened in the 1992 Presidential Election which saw a Presidential Candidate from the NDC with his Deputy from a different political party winning the election in 1992.

Fellow Ghanaians, some of our compatriots including Hon Kennedy Agyapong, Dr Arthur Kennedy, Lawyer Martin Kpebu and one Professor Hanke (an acclaimed economist) in USA and others must be educated that the Vice President of Ghana has no locus in the management of the economy of Ghana. So, degrading the status of Dr Bawumia, whose pronouncements as expected in our nation’s politics during campaigns only helped in the winning of the elections. So, the affected persons need to be educated that the Finance Minister’s reporting line is direct to the President and the buck stops with the President. They must be told that if appointed, the Senior Minister (Prime Minister) is the supervisory Officer for the Ministry of Finance and not the VP. Hence, inputs from the Vice President which have no constitutional or legal backing may be treated with disdain by a Minister and this has been the hallmark of the Ministers of Finance in the Fourth Republic of Ghana or since 1993.

So, it must be made very clear to everyone that if an Economy Management Team exist then it is just unconventional, so the Vice President of Ghana is chairing an unconstitutionally mandated Economy Management Team thus usurping the mandate of the National Development Planning Commission which the 1992 Constitution at Articles 86 and 87 ceded the Economy Planning outfit from the Ministry of Finance and Economy Planning to it.

Fellow Citizens, the alleged Economy Management Team may be said to be a Tea Drinking Party, a drain to the national economy thus superfluous. All regimes in the Fourth Republic may be with the exception of that of Ex-President JDM Mahama treated the Constitutional provision of National Development Commission with disdain and both the Constitutional Review Commission and the Government White paper speak volume of the disregard of the inputs from the National Development Planning Commission. So, we need to rethink on what do with National Development Planning Commission provided by an entrenched Clause in the Constitution.

Professor Hanke and his accomplices who been accusing Dr Bawumia for incompetency in the management of the economy of Ghana must be educated that like the Vice President of USA, Nigeria, Kenya etc, the Vice President of Ghana is just like a spare tire in a car. Hence, the Constitution has granted the VP of Ghana zero or no executive powers, he is only on standby to take over as and when necessary and must do so when sworn in by the Chief Justice. So, the Vice Presidential candidature in Ghana is only an election winning machinery because after winning the election, the VP is sidelined by the President and some of his appointees.

This has been the situation since 1993. In fact documentary evidences will authenticate that then Vice President JD Mahama was sidelined by the late President Mills Regime, he was not a member of the Economy Advisory Council or Chairman of a supposed Economy Management Team in the era of the late President Mills. The late Dr Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur, an economist who was a former Deputy of Bank of Ghana was used by His Excellency JD Mahama, then a Presidential candidate in 2012 just to win the election. He was sidelined by the regime of HEJDM. A common staff officer in the regime of HEJDM in 2014 had the audacity to order the then VP of Ghana to halt his presentation at a meeting at Abuja, Nigeria to return the Presidential Jet to the Air force Base Accra.

It is a fact, that in the 2016 Presidential Election, then Candidate Nana Addo won the Presidential election through the political efforts of Dr Bawumia and it is also true that after winning power, President Nana Addo subtly cocooned the Hon Minister of Finance from Dr Bawumia by measures like Senior Minister (Hon Osafo Marfo), an appointment which is akin to Prime Minister, appointment of Hon Dr Osei Akoto, a seasoned economist and a former MP and former Minister of Finance as the Principal economic adviser to him (the President) and according to the Minority Leader of Parliament of Ghana, as part of the effort to sideline the Office Vice President Dr Bawumia, very low fund was provided to his Office in the 2021 Budget. Notwithstanding, this state of affairs, Vice President Dr Bawumia maintained a very good posture and loyalty to his boss, the President Nana Addo, since the buck stops with him as the President and has helped in the improvement of this Country, the first in the history of the Country.

Fellow Citizens, it is hoped that one day, his Excellency ex-President JD Mahama who was once a VP of Ghana and his Excellency Vice President Dr Bawumia will help us with the challenges of VP of Ghana for us to tweak the relevant Constitutional provisions on the Office of the VP to make it more active and make the VP as the Constitutional Chairman of the Economy Management Team or the National Economy Development Planning Commission as was provided at Article 73 of the 1979 Constitution.

Fellow Citizens, another Constitutional Provision which has been placed on the front burner is the Council of State as provided at Article 89 of the 1992 Constitution, which was lifted from previous Constitutions especially at Article 106 of the 1979 Constitution to perform advisory role to the three Arms of Government and National Institutions as well as quasi-legislature role as in Article 90 of the 1992 Constitution and for matters on the Amendment of the provisions of the Constitution, it may perform investigatory role as at section 7 of Article 92.

I do not agree with the suggestion that the Council of State should be changed to a Second Chamber of Parliament as a Senate. The Council of State was an adoption of the concept of Council of Elders in some Traditional system which provided an advisory role to the King or Chief. But I would rather recommend that an amendment of the Constitution to change the composition of the Council of State to be akin to the National Security Council like the Constitution of Nigeria (Schedule 3 Part 1B Article 5) to include the President as Chairman, the Vice President as Deputy Chairman, with members to include all former Presidents, all former Vice Presidents, all former Chief Justices, all former Speakers of Parliament, former IGPs or a former IGP, former CDS or a former CDS, President National House of Chief. Hence, the Council of State to be in office with only a change of the Chairperson and new Deputy when change of Administration occurs. The Council of State to perform the same functions as provided in the 1992 Constitution.

Fellow Ghanaians, on matters on the economy, the Holy Bible at 1 Peter 5:10 states ‘So after you have suffered a little while, He will Restore, Support and Strengthen you and He will put you on a Firm Foundation. Hence based on this strong message, I write to you with a heart full of high hopes, despite this trying time of the economy of our dear Nation, occasioned by internal factors of mismanagement aggravated firstly by malevolent external factors of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War which affected the supply chain and secondly by the Expansionary monetary Policy of the Federal Bank of USA, which saw movement of non-resident investors from the bond market to USA for more and safe dividends, hence the current hardship is a global economic situation and is the first of its kind in the history of mankind, this must be appreciated by all for the way forward.

Fellow Ghanaians let us regard the situation as a game changer for us to do away with the penchant or taste for foreign goods, arrogance, selfishness, greediness, so that we change our negative attitude of Pull Him Down (negative PHD) to a Positive attitude of Patriotism, Honesty, Discipline,(positive PHD) Thinking or Dreaming Big, Thinking Positive, have Faith in God as required at 1 Peter 5:10 and be innovative or up scaling our ventures.

Fellow Ghanaians as prophesied in the Holy Bible at Ecclesiastes 1;9 that What has, Happened Before, Will Happen Again, so as expected the contacting of the IMF for macro-economy stability or creditability was the right way made by our President, it is unfortunate he delayed in doing so but join me to congratulate our President, His Excellency Nana Addo, the Show.

Fellow Ghanaians, this time let us work hard so that we do not to make the ritual of going to the IMF for bail out as part of our DNA. So we need to ensure the current Administration provides sufficient funds, say not less than 10% of national budgetary expenditure for the transformation and modernization of Agricultural Sector noted as the engine for the growth of an economy and the driven force for industrialization. So let us inform the Minister of Finance that we need an import substitution policy for rice production and Ghana has to put not less than 630,000 hectares of land for rice production to achieve not less than 2.2 Millions of paddy rice to be milled at 65% recovery rate for at least 1.4 Millions of milled rice

Fellow Ghanaians as in at Ecclesiastes 1;9 that What has, Happened Before, Will Happen Again, so be assured that this suffering too Shall Pass. So as stated in my last submission, 2023 is going to be a year of economy recovery. Shalom and once again Merry X’mas to you.