Ghanaian laws too old; we can’t fight 2025 corruption with 1960 laws — Prof. H. Kwasi Prempeh

Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee, Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, has bemoaned the outdated nature of Ghanaian laws.

The CDD-Ghana Executive Director said the country must upgrade its legal framework, noting that laws enacted in the 1960s are ill-equipped to address modern-day crimes.

The legal expert and governance advocate attributed the persistence of corruption and other criminal activities partly to the archaic and vague language used in the country’s laws, which makes them difficult for the average citizen to even understand.

Speaking at a public lecture in Accra on Friday, February 28, organized by the One Ghana Movement in partnership with the UPSA School of Law, Prof. Prempeh stressed that laws that are difficult to explain often become ineffective.

“Our laws are too old. The tools we are giving to fighters of corruption are way too archaic. There’s no way you can fight corruption in 2025 with an act that was passed in 1960,” he said.

“It’s a disgrace that too many provisions in our Criminal Offences Act date back to the 1960s. Nothing has changed. There’s been a lot of legal and jurisprudential innovation around fighting corruption since then — plenty in countries that strongly believe in democracy and the rule of law. A lot has changed when it comes to fighting corruption,” he added.

He further highlighted the need to simplify the language used in drafting laws to ensure they are easily understood by ordinary citizens without the need for legal assistance.

“He’s spoken about how we draft our laws — plain English is the way to go these days. There’s no need for archaic and convoluted language. When we draft laws, they must clearly inform the person whose behaviour you want to regulate so they can understand without needing a lawyer. The average citizen should be able to read the law and immediately understand what they can or cannot do,” Prof. Prempeh noted.