The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has rejected the approach being used by the government to implement proposed changes to the 1992 Constitution, warning that the exercise amounts to a complete rewrite of Ghana’s supreme law.
NPP says amending 147 articles plus 59 new provisions amounts to new constitution; accuses gov’t of sidelining stakeholders
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, September 17, the Chairman of the NPP Policy Committee and Member of Parliament for Ofoase/Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the party cannot support the current process without a broad-based deliberative platform involving key national stakeholders.
“The New Patriotic Party therefore rejects this approach being pursued by the NDC government in essentially rewriting the 1992 constitution,” he declared.
According to Mr. Oppong Nkrumah, the Constitution Review Committee has recommended amendments to 147 out of the 299 articles of the 1992 Constitution, representing about 49 percent of the document, in addition to 59 entirely new provisions.
He argued that the sheer scale of the proposals takes the exercise far beyond a routine amendment.
“Amending 147 of 299 articles, together with 59 new provisions, that is 206 reaching into the executive, the legislature, independent constitutional bodies, and local government is not just an adjustment to some provisions of the constitution, they amount to the overhaul of the constitution and in substance the enactment of a new one,” he stressed.
Gov’t vs Committee Disagreements
The former Information Minister also raised concerns over what he described as deep disagreements between the government and its own Constitution Review Committee.
He claimed government has substituted its own position for about 100 of the 147 recommendations made by the independent committee established by the President.
He further alleged that government has declared the consultation process closed and directed its Implementation Committee to draft amendment bills without further negotiations, with November 2026 set as the deadline for the first amendment.
According to him, this unilateral approach leaves no platform for political parties, Organised Labour, professional bodies, traditional authorities and other identifiable groups to deliberate on the contentious issues.
Call For Constituent Assembly
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said Ghana’s history shows that legitimate constitution-making has always involved two stages – expert work followed by broad deliberation.
“First, the work of an expert deliberated and settled upon by a broad and representative assembly and only then given the force of law. This was done in 1969, in 1979, and in 1992 and that is what we are calling on the government to respect now,” he said.
The NPP is therefore calling on government to introduce a Constituent or Consultative Assembly Bill in Parliament to establish a formal deliberative assembly for the constitutional review exercise.
He said such a mechanism would provide a legitimate platform to debate the proposals and resolve the more than 100 areas of disagreement between the government and the Review Committee before any amendments are given the force of law.
The party warned that proceeding without such broad consensus would undermine the legitimacy of the 1992 Constitution and the stability it has provided for over three decades.
By Sampson Kumah Ifeetwube Elvis
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