The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has opposed the extension of presidential tenure from four to five years in isolation without the backing of stronger governance structures and reforms.
It cautioned that in the event of misgovernance, the citizenry would have to endure the consequences for a longer period than in the current situation.
“The TUC draws attention to the fact that in the event of misgovernance, a five-year tenure also means citizens will have to endure the consequences for a longer period than under the current dispensation.
“The acceptance of this recommendation, therefore, imposes an obligation to improve governance and bolster confidence in democratic governance,” the Secretary-General of the union, Joshua Ansah, said at a press conference in Accra yesterday.
The press conference was to state the TUC’s position on the Review of the 1992 Constitution: The Process, CRC Recommendations and Government Position.
Recommendation
The TUC posited that the recommendation was tied to other recommendations intended to strengthen and improve governance and that “one cannot, therefore, merely agree to tenure extension and leave everything else the same.”
Mr Ansah said the union had, however, noted the government’s position that “A longer term provides a more realistic timeframe for the formulation, implementation, and assessment of government policy”.
Appointments
On presidential appointments, Mr Ansah said the TUC agreed with the recommendation to amend Article 70 to limit the appointment powers of the President.
However, the TUC, like the government, found the four classifications of public service appointments proposed by the CRC to be vague.
“The TUC will work with the Constitution Review Implementation Committee (CRIC) as it develops a more appropriate and practical classification system for limiting the appointment powers of the President.
The TUC believes, however, that amending that Article alone would not limit the President’s appointment powers, as Article 70 pertained to a limited set of public institutions commonly described as Independent Constitutional Bodies.
Mr Ansah said, among other things, insulating their appointment from the partisan instincts of a President would strengthen their independence and public confidence in their work.
“We have also taken note of government’s proposal to delete the words “except that the majority of Ministers of State shall be appointed from among members of Parliament” from Article 78(1), saying “This deletion will allow a President to nominate any number of ministers from among Members of Parliament.”
“The TUC backs this recommendation by the CRC. We do not expect Ministers of State to act simultaneously as Members of Parliament,” he said.
Again, Mr Ansah said the TUC did not support the CRC recommendation that an MP who resigned from Parliament must be barred from appointment as a Minister during the term of the Parliament to which the member was elected.
“We have no problem if Members of Parliament resign and take up ministerial appointments.
Our problem is with Ministers of State doubling as Members of Parliament.
The uniquely Ghanaian hybrid system has weakened parliamentary oversight and occasioned Executive dominance of the legislation.
It has also weakened accountability,” the TUC Secretary-General said.
Dual citizenship
On dual citizenship, the TUC totally disagreed with the recommended amendment of Article 94(2)(a) to allow dual citizens to contest parliamentary elections and become Members of Parliament while remaining a citizen of another country and the government’s acceptance, including the current efforts in parliament to allow dual citizens to hold any public position except president and vice-president.
“In fact, we characterise the recommendation as self-serving and a direct assault on genuine citizenship.
It is contradictory and serves no useful purpose for the country,” he said.
The union added that it was strange for the CRC to recommend that a teacher in the Ghana Education Service (GES), who is serving the country in a deprived community, must resign for a full year before he or she could contest parliamentary elections, but a dual citizen did not have to resign the other citizenship.
“This is the contradiction and the unfairness.
We must not constitutionalise this unfairness.
The current arrangement must remain,” Mr Ansah said on behalf of the union.
Amendment
The TUC accepted the recommendation to amend Article 89(2) to create a 33-member Council of State and also to change the composition of the council.
In the view of the TUC, the Council of State remained a useful organ of state that must be reformed to be effective at meeting the expectations of citizens.
However, Mr Ansah said the overwhelming dominance of presidential appointees on the council was not helpful and that the processes for electing regional representatives had become infested with partisan politics.
On the election of district chief executives, the TUC said it agreed with the government’s position on the CRC recommendation.
However, the TUC totally disagrees with the proposal by the government that, for the election of DCEs, an incumbent government will select or nominate five candidates, out of which three will be shortlisted as candidates for election as a DCE.
“The TUC rejects this proposal. It is paternalistic, and it retains the central government’s dominance of the district administration.
Most likely, an NDC government will select five NDC members or sympathisers. An NPP government will do the same. And Ghanaians will ask: ‘Did we go or did we come? ’.
Lands
The TUC also confronted issues on lands and natural resources and found it strange that, given all the historical and contemporary concerns over the country’s lands and natural resources, the government found no value in all the recommendations by the CRC.
“The TUC agrees with the broad recommendations by the CRC that seek to reform the legal framework for managing our lands and natural resources,” Mr Ansah said.
He explained that a simple arithmetic of the total number of recommendations proposed by the CRC versus the recommendations accepted or rejected by the government showed that the government had rejected an overwhelming 54 per cent of the recommendations.
He said the proposed referendum would, therefore, be based on issues exclusively selected by the government to the exclusion of issues favoured by other groups.
