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Paul Adom-Otchere, host of Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV, has stated that he supports calls for a review of the 1992 Constitution.

According to him, one of the main reasons he supports such calls is the need to relook at the powers of the President which in his view are ‘excessive.’

In an editorial on the March 18, 2022 edition of his programme, Adom-Otchere explained that the excessive presidential powers stemmed from the genesis of the current Constitution, which he said was to please a dictator being convinced to democratize – i.e. late Jerry John Rawlings.

He said, that review call was one of the reasons he agreed with #FixTheCountry campaigner, Oliver Barker-Vormawor.

“I agreed with him on the basis that, at least, there has to be another look at the 1992 Constitution and that some amendments have to be made.

“Our passion about this 1992 Constitution is that we think that the powers of the President under this Constitution are excessive and we do know why, because the Constitution was tailor-made for a military dictator,” he stated.

He continued: “And we do know why, to make him (the dictator) feel comfortable in running a democratic state, he needed to be assured that most of the powers that he controlled as a military dictator, upon his transfiguration into a civilian leader, he will be able to access.”

“But with the military dictator situation over, and the stability of the nation almost guaranteed, we think that it is time to have a look at the constitution,” he added.

Rawlings who died in 2020 had himself weighed in on the need for a constittional review the year prior.

A GNA report quoted him as calling for the removal of entrenched clauses saying it was necessary to remove the entrenched clauses that protected high-level political actors and embolden some of them to abuse their office and criminally profit from their positions.

He was addressing the 40th Anniversary Parade and Wreath Laying of his June 4 Revolution at Nungua in Accra.

The former military ruler turned civilian President said there were many Constitutional clauses that did not serve the national interest and called for an urgent establishment of a constituent assembly to review them.

Former President Rawlings, who is also the Founder of the NDC, said: “Over the years the indemnity clauses have emboldened certain characters to abuse their offices and profit themselves.

“It is quite evident that a lot of our people are losing confidence in our constitutional mandate. The Constitution of the Fourth Republic was created by us, for us and to serve us, and in light of the 25 years, there is an unqualified need to reform or rewrite our current Constitution.”

He said an urgent constituent assembly ought to be established with the necessary powers to rewrite the Constitution; stating that “their job would involve reviewing all the constitutional clauses especially the problematic ones, like the transitional provisions and indemnity clause”.