Justice Emile Short, former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), says some legal experts are questioning the legal and constitutional propriety of adopting the procedure  of setting up a committee of inquiry, same as was used in setting  up the Constitutional Review Commission.

He hosted Former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Ayikoi Otoo and former Chief of Staff, Nana Ato Dadzie on Emile Short’s Take on Multi TV last Sunday

The retired Judge of the United Nations International criminal Tribunal for Rwanda added that critics have argued that the amended constitution will be government oriented and not necessarily a people-driven

In his response, Nana Ato Dadzie said the concerns of the lawyers who think that the whole process is being hijacked by the Executive may appear valid, but in substance, "we should be looking at the nature and composition of the commission itself".

This, he said  "was a cross-partisan body made up of academics who compiled 984 pages of very solid work which has been submitted and received. It reflects the whole gamut of our political and constitutional history.”

He stressed that, there is no universality as to how constitutional amendments are done and the processes they go through. He also cited Tanzania, where the government appointed the Prime Minister and Attorney-General to chair the Constitutional Review Commission , with the former Chief Justice as Vice chairman.

In India, he explained, a retired Chief Justice also sat as Chairman of the Commission and presented its report to the law minister, who is literally the Attorney - General.

He again mentioned that the constitutional journey is a rather long one and we should make room for errors and perfect it as we move along.

Ayikoi Otoo recalled that, in his days as Attorney- General, under the Kufuor Administration, there were similar ideas to review the constitution, but in his view he rather thought it was too early for Ghana to undertake such an exercise. In comparism, he said the American constitution stayed for over two hundred years with only a few amendments.

Speaking on the Constitutional Amendment Bill, which was prepared by the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee (CRIC), Justice Short said there, appears to be some ambiguity on the role of parliament in this exercise, with regards to the amendment of entrenched positions.

"CRIC seems to suggest that, after the bill has been approved by Cabinet, it is then sent to the Speaker of Parliament, who then sends it to the Council of State, and then referred it back to parliament. In this vein, Parliament will not have the opportunity to examine the bill thoroughly and make changes where necessary", he said.

The Former Chief of Staff said Parliament is expected to study portions of the entrenched positions for thirty days and forward it to the Council of State with their advice and not their opinion.

Justice Short again said the entrenched positions are supposed to be the most fundamental and important provisions and questioned whether it is not an anomaly for Parliament to play a rather passive role and not have an opportunity to study and make changes where necessary.

Ayikoi Otoo was of the view that, If parliamentarians are not given the opportunity to discuss the matter and bring out issues, and gazetted for further deliberations over a period of six months, it renders MP’s as lame ducks.

Nana Ato Dadzie sharply disagreed saying the provisions of the entrenched clauses and its mode of amendment is structured deliberately to look at the citizenry for direction and suggestions, and not for parliament, which can be highly partisan.

 It will be recalled that the late President  Mills inaugurated in January 2010, a ten-member Constitutional Review Commission to ascertain from the people of Ghana, their views on the operations of the 1992 constitution and in particular, the strength and weaknesses of the constitution.

It was also to articulate the views of the citizens on amendments that may be required for a comprehensive review of the 1992 constitution and to make recommendations to government for considerations and provide a draft bill for possible amendment of the 1992 constitution. The commission submitted its report to government on December 20 2011.

In a government white paper, it accepted 95% of the recommendations, and rejected with reasons, the remaining 5%. The government set up a 5-member implementation committee to implement the recommendations that had been accepted by government.