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FORTY-ONE IN ONE BLOW! THOUGHTS ON THE
PROPOSED SINGLE REFERENDUM QUESTION
TO DECIDE THE AMENDMENT OF GHANA'S
CONSTITUTION
MAAME A.S. MENSA-BONSU
I. INTRODUCTION
Ghana's Constitutional Reforms Commission, [CRIC], set up in 2012 to translate
the report of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC),1 into concrete
constitutional amendments submitted a draft bill to government in 2014. The Bill
proposed to amend 34 entrenched provisions and insert 7 new ones and addressed
matters found in no less than 10 chapters of the Constitution. Government
apparently intends to put this bill to the mandatory referendum for amending
entrenched provisions of the constitution. In other words, government hopes to
amend Ghana's Constitution 41 times with single power-packed blow.
Both the constitutional review exercise and the proposed amendments, have
been met with condemnation and challenge at nearly every turn.2 Recent sharp
criticism from civil society organisations and constitutional experts, has centred
on the intention-now somewhat less admitted-to craft a single 'yes or no'
referendum question to decide all 41 proposed amendments. This paper is
intended to swell the chorus of protest against a decision to logroll all 41
issues. It endorses the interpretation of Article 290(1) proffered by think-tank
IMANI-Ghana.3 Hopefully a significant body of literature agitating against this
unconstitutional, and unjust means of constitutional amendment will prevent
the government from foisting on the people of Ghana-albeit with the best
* BA, LLB (Ghana), BCL (Distinction) (Oxon), BL (Ghana); barrister, solicitor and Lecturer in
Constitutional Law & Criminal Law, Lancaster University Ghana, Accra.
1 Constitution Review Commission, 'From a Political to a Developmental Constitution', Accra
2011.
2 E.g. 'Constitutional Review Takes Off But Kumado Says It's a Misplaced Priority', Daily
Graphic (11 January 2010), available at http://www.graphicghana.com/news/page.php?news=598
(accessed 19 January 2015). See also R. Atuguba, 'Contemporary Constitutional Issues in
Our Multiparty Democracy', available at http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ghana/10482.pdf
(accessed 30 January 2015).
3 S. Kwaku Asare, 'How To Amend the Constitution of Ghana', available at http://www.
imanighana.com/blog/how-to-amend-the-constitution-of-ghana (accessed 19 January 2015).
African Journal of International and Comparative Law 24.1 (2016): 1-11
Edinburgh University Press
DOI: 10.3366/ajicl.2016.0137
© Edinburgh University Press
www.euppublishing.com/journal/ajicl](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/afjincol24&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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