By Emmanuel Nii Sackey
The Youth Platform on Constitution Reform, has called on President John Dramani Mahama to release the full report of the Constitutional Review Committee to outline path to constitutional reforms in the country’s constitution.
In response to the summary recommendations of the Committee, published under the title; Transforming Ghana: From Electoral Democracy to Developmental Democracy, the platform noted the work of the eight-member Committee appointed by the president and acknowledge the scope of its stakeholder engagement and the range of reforms proposed.
Speaking at a media briefing in Accra, lead member of the platform and head of protocol for democracy hub Kirkchuffs, stated that, the country cannot give unconditional endorsement to proposals whose full legal and institutional content remains unpublished.
The release of the full report is therefore the precondition for any further engagement by the YOUTH PLATFORM ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS and by the Ghanaian public.
Emphasising the need to have a structured process and a specific political moment. He noted that, the CRC recommendations reflect a level of cross-partisan consensus that is not common in Ghana’s constitutional history. “Ghana’s constitutional reform history contains a clear precedent for what happens when committee reports are produced and not acted upon.
The work of the Fiadjoe Commission was serious and considered and did not result in reform. The conditions that prevented implementation then – electoral proximity, shifting political priorities, loss of public momentum – are not unique to that period.
They are structural features of the Ghanaian political cycle that this administration must actively manage if this process is to reach a different outcome.”
The platform therefore demanded for the Publication of the full unabridged report of the Constitution Review Committee without redaction and further delay and also establish, within one week of this statement, a multi-stakeholder Constitutional Reform Implementation Committee with a defined mandate, clear timelines, regional representation, and public accountability mechanisms.
The composition of that Committee must include structured youth representation at the decision-making level. Youth inclusion must be substantive, not ceremonial.
The platform further advised the Government against issuing a Government White Paper or executive position paper on the CRC recommendations prior to the conclusion of a structured national consultative process.
According to kirkchuffs a position paper issued at this stage carries the risk of signalling a predetermined outcome, undermining public trust in the consultative process, and fracturing the cross-partisan consensus on which the viability of this reform depends.
As the Implementation Committee is the appropriate vehicle for testing and refining positions before the Government commits to a formal stance.
He also called for the establishment of a cross-party Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Constitutional Reform to track legislative progress, receive public submissions, and report quarterly to Parliament and to the public.
He was of the view that, Parliamentary engagement at this stage is not procedural – constitutional amendment requires it, and its absence would represent a structural gap in the reform process.
As the Ghanaian youth are prepared to participate actively in every stage of this process.