Is Constitutional Review for the Benefit of the Privileged?

At last week’s 10th anniversary celebration lecture of The Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) under the theme “Constitutional Reform and Democratic Governance”, Professor Kofi Quashigah of the University of Ghana Law School made some remarks that fully got my attention.

He expressed the hope that the current review and subsequent amendments of the 1992 Constitution should “impact positively on the lives of the people, particularly the ordinary person.” He queried: “Why have we not yet thought of the elevation of socio-economic rights to the same constitutional level as is the case in the South African constitution? Are we scared of the potential consequences that would arise as a result of the right-based demands that the ordinary citizens could make on government?”

For starters, here are the preambles to the two constitutions. Ghana’s Constitution states, in part: “In exercise of our natural and inalienable right to establish a framework of government which shall secure for ourselves and posterity the blessing of liberty, equality of opportunity and prosperity; ……The protection and preservation of fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Unity and Stability for our Nation.”

The preamble of the South African Constitution states, in part: "Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms." It also spells out in detail, specific socio-economic issues on rights such as: “Health care services, including reproductive health care; sufficient food and water; and social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance.” Wow!

What is missing in the preamble of Ghana’s Constitution, which embodies the spirit and intent and the very backbone of our nation’s law, is HUMAN DIGNITY. Human dignity necessarily includes the availability of sufficient food and water, health-care services as well as a social security net for the down-trodden. If South Africa can emphasize such very critical outcomes of democracy (the improvement of the human condition), then why not Ghana? The current condition of many of our people is that of crying muu muu maa maa for human dignity, with no one listening.

Many people are in situations of double-, triple- or quadruple-dipping poverty. They are not just hungry with no food to eat, but have poor health care, poor sanitation, lousy housing, struggle for water (even in Accra and major cities), and sub-standard education – among many others, while wrapped in a flimsy human condition with little or no hope. Some are like the living dead, laboriously scavenging through life, digging themselves through the jagged cracks in our economy.

Yet, in the 39 proposals for constitutional review of the Attorney General (AG), the focus is exclusively on the privileged leadership and institutions of Ghana. How come not a single socio-economic rights issue made it onto the AG’s radar for constitutional review?

Here is a breakdown of the categories of shopping list which floats the beautiful boat of the AG and which found space in her proposals: The Presidency, Parliament (including their salaries, allowances and facilities), Ministers of State, AG, Constitutional bodies (CHRAJ, NMC, EC and NCCE), Council of State, Speaker of Parliament, Supreme Court, Judges, chieftaincy institution, decentralization, malfeasance, retirement age of senior legal service lawyers, and the abolishing of the death penalty (How so kind! Thanks, Madam!).

The AG’s shopping list for constitutional review is at once shocking and troubling and irritating. So, where are the issues which are of paramount and urgent importance to the majority of our desperately poor?

Fact: Ghana does not belong solely to politicians and the privileged elite. The AG’s officialdom-tilted proposals render the very foundation and intent of the constitutional review suspect. Reading the proposals makes me feel smothered by officialdom. I wonder – would Ghana blossom under this pretence of constitutional review if the needs of the majority of our people are not addressed?

Visit Korle Bu, our leading hospital, our last stop for all diseases funky and debilitating and killing. On my most recent visit to check out my own sticky matters, I witnessed ailing emaciated women clutching on to tiny babies they have just given birth to. Now, this is where you should take in a deep breath and/or gasp for fresh air: Four women on IV (drips) laying on thinly-padded hard floor with IV cords hanging from wall nails! WHAT!

There is also the thorny issue of the thousands (or millions) of our discarded youth (the future of Ghana) who, like refugees, are either idle or tread pavements and dusty roads to sell anything made in China in pursuit of money to ensure their survival. So should we just pray up the youth question and leave the matter to God alone?

Next, put the searchlight on mental health. This is a country in which our psychiatric hospitals are over-crowded, under-funded and under-resourced; where some patients belong to the forgotten dead. We forget that you and/or I could lose our sanity any day and boldly join the sorry rank and file of the mentally ill. We might even take off and hit town butt-naked in our birthday suits and live the rest of our days by stinky gutters, eating scarce throw-away food.

This is a country in which environmental sanitation remains a national crisis matter; where human excreta is dumped directly into the ocean, and Ghana places second-to-last in toilet coverage in West Africa, only better than Niger. Ouch!

Yet, the Rawlingses house burns “small” and leaders from across the political divide and a myriad of pompous lie-lie sycophantic low-life characters go a-parading and a-commiserating and a-crying and a-mourning whilst Ghana’s attention quickly shifts from developmental issues. When would We the People also begin to live a little bit of hi-life on the red carpet of attention?

Any strengthening of the 1992 Constitution that does not acknowledge that ours is a developing country and therefore provide appropriate and bold provisions that can adequately take care of our desperately poor and deprived population is nothing but a cosmetic effort and a mere joke.

SIDEBAR: (1). On a lighter note, from my vantage point as an unrepentant nerd who also happens to love good dressing, my heart is completely broken that fire has quenched Konadu’s gorgeous outfits (head gears – oh, the head gears! jewellery, shoes and all. Holy Moses!) Fire, you are so cruel! If anything destroys my precious irreplaceable vintage shoes, large dangling ear-rings and all my other precious womanly stuff, I would faint and/or lose my mind (all of it!), and resignedly sit in sackcloth and ashes for a very long time. Madam, from the depth of my soul, do accept my condolences for your losses.

(2). Ex-President Rawlings is too much in the national public discourse. Week after week, media focus is on one raw Rawlings outburst or the other, for one reason or the other. With Rawlings on the national agenda, all other issues, especially developmental issues, are placed solidly on the back-burner. Doesn’t this situation constitute a distraction to our developmental agenda?

So therefore why shouldn’t a constitutional review make room for him to become president, again? With that, we could all stay on one agenda (Ghana’s agenda) and maybe, just maybe, by and by, succeed in moving this country forward, out of the freaking under-development trap.