Audio By Carbonatix
The former Chief Economist of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Assibi O. Abudu, has likened the supreme laws governing the country's affairs to autocratic governance.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ AM Show Monday, the reputable economist explained that the 1992 Constitution has not evenly distributed the governance powers to the three arms of government to ensure they are sufficiently independent.
He noted that the constitution has given so much power to the Executive arm that, the Head of State becomes more of a dictator than a democratic leader.
“I don’t know where the 1992 constitution got its inspiration from but it doesn’t obey the laws of democracy. This is because democracy says we should have three separate wings, all of them, independent of each other with equal weight.
“But the 1992 constitution which I consider a coup d'état [does not do that]. Because if the President appoints the Chief Justice, all the judges and 50 per cent of our Ministers must be MPs which means we are mixing the Legislature with the Executive. That is not right; they are supposed to be independent,” he told host Benjamin Akakpo.
He argued that the high dependency of the Legislature and Judiciary on the Executive makes it difficult for the two to hold the Head of State and his appointees accountable.
“So when the President appoints everybody so to speak, what do you call that? You call that dictatorship,” he said.
The Political Scientist also suggested that the 1992 constitution must be changed every 25 years.
According to him, the country’s population doubles every 25 years, as such, it will be unrealistic to rule future generations with the laws of today.
“My feeling is that the constitution, whenever we get a new one, should include a provision that every 25 years we have a new constitution because, in democracy, you cannot tie future Ghanaians to obey what Ghanaians of today will do.”
Latest Stories
-
Lekzy DeComic to feature four generations of comedians on upcoming show
2 hours -
Nigeria wins arbitration as Sunrise’s $400 million hydropower claim dismissed
2 hours -
Xhaka under investigation over Covid-19 certificate
3 hours -
FAW chief questions Infantino’s Fifa reform claims
3 hours -
La Liga chief dismisses Real’s ref conspiracy claims
3 hours -
GMA rejects claims its vessel monitoring system is ineffective
3 hours -
I was close to joining Liverpool in 2016 – Mbappe
3 hours -
Ministry of Sports and Recreation holds national validation workshop on National Sports Policy Draft
3 hours -
‘Do you want me to be happy with this poor performance?’ – Bono East Minister fumes over Kintampo market project with less than 1% work done
3 hours -
London screening honours Nkrumah and 103 years of Ghana cinema
3 hours -
Founder’s Day: Is Nkrumah’s glory fading? – Nkrumah’s iconic fountain at Circle runs dry
3 hours -
GHS calls for stronger systems to ensure safe care for NCD patients
3 hours -
Kufuor calls for Africa’s resources and youthful population to be transformed into opportunities
3 hours -
Mahama administration not clamping down on free speech – Shamima Muslim
4 hours -
Ghana TVET Service, UNESCO, KPMG, Microsoft to train 100,000 facilitators in AI
4 hours