A former Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Church International, Samuel Noi Mensah, says a referendum must be held ahead of the next general elections to review the 1992 Constitution.

He contends that failure to review and amend sections of the Constitution to meet current demands and needs of the society will deny the country of its intended growth and development.

“There must be a referendum before the next election; otherwise, this nation will definitely go down. We can’t go into the next election with the same constitution. After 30 years, you should evaluate yourself.

“You should ask yourself how well have you performed in 30years of our democracy. The Constitution we have only enhances a political leader and so when they come into office, they like it because it benefits their selfish ego.

“That is why the ordinary man like you and I must demand and call for the referendum; otherwise, the Constitution we have today cannot take us into the next 30 years of Ghana’s development,” he said in an interview on the Second Joy Christian Forum.

According to him, the country’s delayed progress after 65 years of independence is partly due to the Constitution.

He said the Constitution in its current state gives presidents “too much power that they sometimes manage the country as their family property.”

“The constitution has given too much power to one single person who manages the country as if he’s managing his family property or family business and that is why in this 30th year of our democratic rule, there must be the need for constitutional review if we want to enhance our governance.

“The Constitution we have only enhances a political leader and so when they come into office, they like it because it benefits their selfish ego [but] we need strong leadership that will transform our society after 65 years and that must be something the church must begin to trumpet and the church is trumpeting,” he said.

Bishop Noi Mensah explained that “politics actually is about decisions people make that affect our lives and we must be interested. Unfortunately, whoever sits in the Jubilee House has been given too much of power.”