Mahama criticises fellow politicians

THE 2008 Presidential Candidate of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Dr Edward Mahama, has said that most politicians are not objective enough to set the agenda for national discourse.
Consequently, he has advised that the media should ensure that it brought issues that were of major concern to the people to the fore for discussion and ensure that the concerns of the ordinary people held sway.
Dr Mahama was addressing the media just before a validation conference on constitutional review in Accra. The conference was for PNC to corroborate issues for constitutional review raised under the IEA-Ghana Political Parties Platform (GPPP).
He said most politicians in the country were highly jaundiced to the extent that they would not be able to raise issues of national concern such as constitutional review, devoid of partisan interest.
He also urged the media to ensure that they provided adequate awareness and opportunity for ordinary Ghanaians to make their views, concerns and aspirations known to the constitutional review committee.
With this, he said, the reviewed constitution would stand the test of time.
Dr Mahama paid glowing tribute to the IEA for its contribution to strengthening the democratic process and described it as a typical example of US President Barrack Obama’s strong institutions that Ghana needed.
He noted that over the years, the IEA had demonstrated beyond doubt that its core commitment was to build stronger political parties led by leaders who would not perceived themselves as enemies but Ghanaians with different views on how the country would be developed for the benefit of all.
In his opening remarks, the Finance Manager of IEA, Mr Asante Ayeh, explained that the call to review the nation’s constitution was a recommendation of the IEA-Ghana Political Parties Platform (GPPP) which was suggested under the Democracy Consolidation Strategy Paper (DCSP).
He explained that the DCSP, as a study, identified the gaps in the democratic practice since the coming into force of the 1992 constitution and proposed practical recommendations for reform.
He said the study examined the functions of the executive, legislature, judiciary, media, civil society organisations and the constitution and pointed to the fact that though the constitution had worked very well, a number of provisions continued to hinder maturation of the democracy.
Mr Ayeh said some of the 27 provisions considered in earlier meetings include the provision that the Constitution Review Commission should make provisions in the constitution to cover the situation where the position of Vice-President becomes vacant and whether there should be a ceiling on the number of Ministers to be appointed from Parliament.
He added that it was in the light of these and several other deficiencies identified that the study called for the establishment of the Constitutional Review Commission to oversee the review of the current Constitution.
Mr Ayeh said it was important to remember that the IEA-GPP had come this far, receiving recognition even at the level of the presidency because of the unity of purpose, consensus building and bi-partisan approach to discussing issues of national interest by political party leaders.