Posted: Daily Guide | Friday, 25 February 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Former President Jerry John Rawlings yesterday broke loose at the Constitution Review Commission’s sitting scheduled for him when he was heard shouting.
His attitude therefore broke the code of silence associated with the high-profile personalities’ (including former and incumbent Presidents and their Vices) sessions with the commissioners to make their inputs into the review of the country’s 1992 constitution.
When Mr. Rawlings arrived at the Commission’s office at Cantonments around 11:30am in the company of his special aide, Kofi Adams, he exchanged pleasantries with the commissioners before the hearing, which was a closed session, began.
All seemed to be going well until Mr. Rawlings, under whose tenure as a military dictator the current constitution came into being, was overheard shouting at the meeting.
It is not clear what might have triggered his sudden outburst since details of the meeting were not made public.
After almost two hours, the former President, also the founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), came out of the meeting with members of the Commission and had a brief interaction with the media before driving away.
His aide declined to answer questions from the media and also drove off.
Though speculations were rife that some comments by some members of the Commission could have startled Mr. Rawlings, CRC’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Raymond Atuguba, said the former President was not provoked and that the raising of his voice was his usual way of talking.
“You know the man. That is the way he talks,” was what he told DAILY GUIDE when contacted.
However, it was generally rumoured that the mention of the ‘Indemnity Clauses’ in the constitution might have ruffled his feathers. The indemnity clauses are a part of the Transitional Provisions of the Constitution which provide blanket protection for all coup makers in the various military administrations which toppled constitutionally and democratically elected governments.
Mr. Rawlings said the meeting went well and members of the Commission were very receptive.
Asked whether the country’s Constitution had been tried and tested enough to warrant a review as being done, he said, “This happens once in a while as a result of changing circumstances, okay and if there is the need for something to be altered, it would be okay, if there is no need for it, it would not. But I think the opportunity ought to be created for it and I believe this is what has been done.”
The commissioners met President Mills at the Castle yesterday even though it was not clear if they took his views on the review or not.
Meanwhile, the Commission is expected to hold a week’s national conference from Tuesday, 1st March 2011 at the Accra International Conference Center.
The conference, which would be addressed by President Mills, is expected to serve as a representative national platform where the over 75,000 submissions received and processed will be tabled for national debate.
It is also expected to bring together persons with expert knowledge on the various thematic areas gathered by the submissions to assist the conference to arrive at options for constitutional redesign.
The submissions received so far have been synthesized into 12 thematic areas. These have been further broken down into some 77 sub themes and about 548 issues and would be tabled for a national debate.
Participants at the conference are being drawn from the public, private and civil society organizations.
Identifiable groups such as political parties, youth groups, gender groups, persons with disability, children, professional bodies and associations, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), private sector as well as eminent persons, facilitators and national and international consultants are expected to participate.