Assumptions made in putting Constitution together have failed – Barker Vormawor

The #FixTheCountry movement has made a case for an overhaul of the 1992 constitution to instigate the development and growth of Ghana.

Apart from his position that the existing laws do not meet certain demands of modern times, a Convener of the Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor says the core mandates that the constitution is expected to execute have not been achieved.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Law, the legal practitioner explained that although checks and balances are pivots of the constitution due to the imperialism of the Executive, other arms of government; legislature, and judiciary have been unsuccessful at holding the Presidency to account.

“…the way that politicians have subverted that process is to make sure that you subvert the institution themselves.

“So one of the gambles we make is that Parliament will check, the Executive check and the Judiciary will check both of them. But now we talk about the “You scratch my back, I scratch your back” relationship between the Executive and Parliament,” he told host Samson Lardy Anyenini.

He further highlighted that the constitution lacks a popular initiative where citizens can be included in the law-making process.

“We have cut out the people from the law-making process because we say it is a representative Parliament. To the extent that even if you want to petition Parliament, you can’t do it.

“Parliament can write back to you and say ‘That is not the proper way’. And the proper way they mean is that a Member of Parliament must take it and lay it before Parliament as their own motion. So it is not a people’s thing,” said.

These, among many other gaps, Mr Barker-Vormawor believes make it imperative that the calls for a new constitution are taken seriously.

This time around, the Convener hoped for a document that will prioritize the people and equally distribute power among the three arms of government to ensure probity and accountability.