Constitutional reforms: CRIC has no control over policy content – Barker-Vormawor

The Secretary of the Constitution Review Implementation Committee (CRIC), Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has clarified that the committee has no authority to determine the policy content of proposed constitutional amendment Bills.

He said the committee’s role is strictly technical and limited to drafting the Bills in accordance with the 1992 Constitution.

His comments are aimed at clarifying the respective responsibilities of the CRIC and the Electoral Commission (EC) in Ghana’s ongoing constitutional reform process.

“The Constitution Review Implementation Committee is a technical body. It is not a policy body,” Barker-Vormawor wrote in a social media post on Tuesday, September 15.

According to him, the committee is required to prepare two amendment Bills, one dealing with entrenched provisions and another covering non-entrenched provisions.

“Its job is to draft two Amendment Bills (1 entrenched and 1 non entrenched) in accordance with the Constitution,” he said.

The social activitist stressed that the CRIC does not control the policy direction or substance of the proposed amendments, as those matters are determined through the broader political and consultative process.

“The Referendum is organised by the Electoral Commission and not the CRIC. It is also the EC that makes decisions as to the form of the Referendum,” he stated.

The CRIC was inaugurated on August 28, as an 11-member committee chaired by legal practitioner Marietta Brew.

It was established to help translate accepted constitutional reform recommendations into laws and other measures for implementation following the work of the Constitutional Review Committee chaired by Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh.

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dominic Ayine, has said the committee has a time-bound mandate, with the first set of constitutional amendment Bills expected to be ready for presentation to Parliament by November 2026.

Some of the proposed constitutional amendments are expected to be subjected to a referendum alongside the 2027 District Assembly elections, subject to the constitutional requirements and the progress of the reform process.