The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on the government to establish a Constituent or Consultative Assembly before proceeding with proposed amendments to the 1992 Constitution.
The party says the scale of the proposed changes requires a broad-based deliberative process involving political parties, organised labour, professional bodies, traditional authorities, religious groups, civil society and other identifiable sections of Ghanaian society.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra yesterday, Thursday, September 17, 2026, NPP Policy Coordination Committee Chairman and Ofoase-Ayirebi MP, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the party would support constitutional reforms but rejected what it described as the government’s current approach to implementing them.
According to him, the Constitution Review Committee (CRC), chaired by Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, had completed the expert stage of the process, but a representative body was now required to deliberate on the proposals before they were taken to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the CRC had proposed amendments to 147 of the 299 articles of the 1992 Constitution, alongside 59 new provisions, amounting to 206 proposals. He argued that the breadth of the proposed changes went beyond routine constitutional amendments.
He said Ghana’s previous constitutional experiences in 1969, 1979 and 1992 demonstrated the importance of combining expert work with broad national deliberation before a constitution was given legal effect.
The NPP therefore wants the government to introduce a Constituent or Consultative Assembly Bill in Parliament to establish a formal body that would deliberate on the proposals and seek areas of agreement among the various stakeholders.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said such an assembly should include representatives of political parties, organised labour, professional bodies, the National House of Chiefs, religious organisations, women’s groups, persons with disabilities, students and youth, the private sector, civil society organisations and the regions.
He maintained that the proposed assembly would provide a platform for resolving differences between the government’s position and the recommendations of the CRC, rather than leaving those disagreements to be settled solely through parliamentary voting and a referendum.
The NPP’s call comes amid similar concerns from other stakeholders. The Trades Union Congress has called for broader consensus-building, while Ghana Bar Association President, Mrs Efua Ghartey, has also advocated a Constituent Assembly to deliberate on the proposed changes.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the NPP was not seeking to obstruct constitutional reform but wanted the process to produce a document that could command broad national ownership. He called on the government to establish the proposed assembly, allow it to deliberate on the outstanding issues and subsequently submit the agreed proposals to Ghanaians for consideration.
By: Daniel Orlando/newsalertgh.com
