An effort to amend the 1992 constitution has begun with avant-garde recommendations, including suggestions for the president to pay taxes on his salary.

Under the auspices of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the Advisory Committee on the Revision of the Constitution said in its report that the President should pay taxes as a demonstration of the need for all citizens to contribute their quota to the tax net.

“The committee recommends that the President pay taxes on his salary and emoluments as an example to the rest of the citizenry. This will reflect the principle of equality before the law and be in accordance with the principles of the rule of law.

“The committee therefore recommends that Article 68(5) be deleted to authorize the President to pay taxes,” the report said.

At a stakeholder consultation meeting in Accra yesterday to elaborate on the recommendations, participants agreed that the recommendations would make the constitution more progressive.

The theme of the meeting was “Building Consensus and Promoting Ownership for the Revision of the 1992 Constitution”.

The committee recommends, among other things, limiting the number of ministers to 25 and abolishing the position of state secretaries and regional ministers.

According to the committee’s recommendation, MPs will no longer be ministers, as is the case under Article 78(1), which mandates the President to appoint a majority of ministers from Parliament.

As for the legislative branch of government, the committee recommends that the total number be limited to 277 and that Metropolitan Municipal and District Chief Executives be elected.

In view of this, the committee recommends that “when a vacancy occurs in the membership of the General Assembly, the Coordinating Director of the General Assembly shall notify the Electoral Commission in writing within seven days… and the Electoral Commission within 30 days of the notice thereof shall hold a by-election, except that where the vacancy is the result of death, the by-election shall take place within 60 days”.

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Member of Parliament for Suame, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the time had come to amend the constitution after experimenting with it for the past 42 years.

“It is time to reshape our constitutional architecture so that it meets today’s realities. We need a constitutional order that rejects the winner-takes-all syndrome and promotes cooperation, collective EDs and consensus building in decision-making at all levels of government,” he said.

Chairman of the event and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, said politicization is slowing down the development of the country and the time has come for a new paradigm shift in addressing issues of national importance.

“If we want to move forward, we must cross party lines and be advocates for the change we want,” the Bekwai MP said.

Members of the Constitution Review Consultative Committee are Clara Kasser-Tee, chair and lecturer in law, University of Ghana; Victor Brobbey, National Commission for Civic Education; Prof. John Assafuah-Adjaye, Africa Center for Economic Transformation; Tweneboah Kodua Dickson, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, and Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, National Media Commission.

The rest are Judge Yonny Kulendi, Judiciary; John Nwozah, Audit Service; Anthony Forson Jr., Bar Association of Ghana; Alfred Tuah-Teboah, Ministry of Justice; Mercy Larbi, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice; Dr. Kodjo Mensah, National Development Planning Commission and Nana Tawiah Okyir, Parliamentary Service.

BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI