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The Constitution of The Republic of Ghana, My View.

By Ayaribil Angela
The Constitution of The Republic of Ghana, My View.
10.12.2018 LISTEN

My name is Ayaribil Angela, I attend Siniensi Junior High School, I'm in form one, and I would like to tell you about the constitution of our beloved country, Ghana.

What is a constitution in the first place? According to the Macmillan School Dictionary, approved by the Ghana Education Service and recommended for basic schools, a constitution is a set of basic laws or rules that control how a country is governed or how an organisation operates. Before I hit the nail on the head and leave no stone unturned about the constitution, kindly permit me to tell you about the sources of law in Ghana.

They include; the common law, customary law, acts of parliament and last but not least, is the constitution. The constitution is the supreme law of our land, however, Ghana has had several constitutions, since independence which are; the 1957 Constitution, the 1960 Constitution, the 1969 Constitution, the 1979 Constitution, and finally, the 1992 Constitution which is now used in governing our country.

This constitution of Ghana, which was amended in 1992 has served the country for a period of 26 years since 1992 to date. But has it made an impact on us? What do you think of the constitution?

I think the constitution has played a major role in promoting the peace we enjoy in our country over the years. Yes, from the freedom and justice which it stands for, to the protection of the fundamental human rights of citizens, holding our leaders to account, punishment of criminals and many other importance of the constitution which I cannot even count.

In article 1 and 2 of the 1992 constitution, which talks about its supremacy, it is stated in clause (1) and (2) of article (1) that:

(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.” and

(2) “The Constitution shall be the supreme law of Ghana and any other law found to be inconsistent with any provision of this Constitution should, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.”

But do we know this law very well? Do we understand the constitution which has been written in our name? How many people can read English which is the language of our constitution? Do we have the constitution in our local languages for those who do not understand English? Even if we have, are the appropriate authorities educating the people who cannot read about the laws?

Yet, the law is used against the innocent citizens in court when they commit a crime ignorantly, and they say that “ignorance of the law is not an excuse”. How will we know the law when we are not educated about it regularly?

I Ayaribil Angela suggest that, the following measures should be put in place for us to know our constitution very well.

The Ghana Education Service together with the National Commission for Civic Education should provide pocket size constitutions for all students, and efforts should also be made to translate the constitution into our local languages to be distributed to those who do not understand English. Both literates and illiterates should be educated about the constitution regularly the NCCE.

Today, Ghana is one of the most peaceful countries in Africa and the world.

In a nut shell, I think the constitution of the Republic of Ghana has contributed to the progress of the country and should be held in high esteem. Thank you very much for listening. My name again is Ayaribil Angela.

This article is written by Ayaribil Angela, a member of the Debate and Leadership Team of Siniensi J.H.S. Angela is currently in J.H.S 2 and aspires to be a Medical Doctor.The article was written and presented to her collegue students at her school on 26th July, 2018 when she was in form one. Angela come up with this idea by considering the fate of people especially illitrates in her community in relation to the administering of justice in the country and hereby wrote the above article.

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