Ghana: CDD on research findings on constitutional reform (ANSA-Africa, 2 Aug 2010))

Accra:  Amendments to the transitional provisions in the 1992 Constitution granting indemnity to past military regimes will require delicate handling, the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has indicated. The position taken by CDD-Ghana reflects the strong variations among respondents in a study conducted by the Centre on the constitutional and democratic governance process in Ghana.

Mr. David Armah Attoh, Senior Research Fellow of CDD-Ghana, made this known at a media briefing in Accra to disseminate research findings on the Constitutional Review process. One other key finding is a strong popular support for constitutional reforms in a number of areas, particularly changes to curb executive power, increasing the strength of Parliament and creating greater accountability at the local government level.

The study also revealed that a majority of the respondents prefer that the Constitution impose an upper limit on the total number of Supreme Court justices, all of whom must sit on every case, that a minimum of tertiary education is required for qualification as Members of Parliament and that the Commission in Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) must be vested with power to conduct investigations into cases of corruption on its own initiative.