Constitution Will Become Outmoded Without Review And Amendment � Dep. A-G

The Member of Parliament (MP), for Cape Coast and Deputy Attorney � General and Minister of Justice, Hon Ebo Barton Odro, says if steps are not taken to review and amend the constitution, it will become "outmoded and collapse". Speaking on Peace FM�s Flagship programme, �Kokrokoo�, he said the constitution needs to change with time, to meet the current challenges, adding that there was no need to criticise the exercise in terms of the huge amount involved. �The beauty of democracy is that every Ghanaian has the right to air his/her view but the review is very necessary...If we do not protect the constitution, our democracy will collapse, will become outmoded,� he said. Due to the country�s respect for the rule of law, Ghana has been noted on the international scene for its practice of multi-party democracy. As a consequence, the MP for Cape Coast believes it will not augur well for a nation spearheading democracy in the West African Sub region, if the practice of democracy is allowed to collapse because of lack of resources, financial or otherwise. The Deputy Attorney-General attributed the expected high cost of the review to the likely need for a referendum in the amendment of the entrenched clauses of the constitution. He told host of the Morning Show, Tweneboah Koduah, who is sitting in for Kwami Sefa Kayi that, there was �the need to support and contribute to the success of the review.� The establishment of the Commission is in response to a pledge by President Mills in his first sessional address to Parliament last year, that government would initiate a process for constitutional review, to reflect the current demands of governance. It would ascertain from the people of Ghana, their views on the operation of the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution. The Commission, chaired by Professor Albert Fiadjoe, an Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of West Indies, would operate as a quasi-judicial body for about 12months, and not more than 18months. The members of the Commission include; Osabariba Kwasi Atta II, Paramount chief of Cape Coast; Akenten Appiah Menka, an industrialist; Dr. Nicholas Amponsah, Snr., Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Political Science Dept. The rest are Sabina Ofori Boateng consultant to the legislative drafting unit at the Office of Parliament; Gabriel Pwamang, legal practitioner; Mrs. Jean Mensah, Executive Director at the IEA and Very Rev. Prof S.K. Agyapong, President of the Methodist University College.