The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has raised strong concerns about the government’s current process for reviewing Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.

The party says the proposed changes are too wide-ranging to be handled simply as normal constitutional amendments. It is therefore calling for a Consultative or Constituent Assembly where political parties and other key groups can openly discuss the proposals before they move to Parliament and, where necessary, a referendum.

The NPP points to 206 proposals from the Constitution Review Committee — including 147 proposed changes to existing provisions and 59 new provisions — as evidence of the scale of the exercise.

The party says it will oppose the proposed amendments in Parliament and campaign against them at a referendum if the government proceeds without the broader deliberative process it is demanding.

However, members of the Constitution Review Implementation Committee have said a Consultative Assembly is not the only way to achieve broad public participation. They have proposed alternatives such as a national constitutional dialogue or consensus conference.

The debate now centres on how Ghana should achieve broad consensus before making major changes to the 1992 Constitution.

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