Open Letter to the Chairperson and Members of the Constitution Review Implementation Committee – Preserving the People-Centred Character of Ghana’s Constitutional Reform Process
I bring you good tidings from my home, where I practise my own version of constitutional democracy every day. My wife plays the role of the Speaker, while my children are the citizens. In this little constitutional democracy, they constantly remind me that the rules we make are not meant to serve those who make them, but those who live under them. Our home Constitution therefore exists to protect their interests and well-being, rather than to serve my convenience. It is a simple lesson from my home, but one that I believe carries a profound message for our national constitutional reform:a Constitution must ultimately serve the people. This open letter is not intended to question the authority of Government to examine, accept, modify or reject recommendations made by the Constitution Review Committee (CRC). Government, like every other institution and citizen, is entitled to express its views on the proposed reforms, just as I did in my articles titled “Key Observations on the Constitution Review Committee Report Submitted to President Mahama – Part I & II.” There is nothing inherently wrong with disagreement. Indeed, disagreement is an essential part of democratic constitutionalism.