By RACHEL QUARTEY
Saturday 7th January 2023, marked the 30th Anniversary of the coming into effect of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and the birth of the Fourth Republic.
Again, on this day in Ghana, new Members of Parliament (MPs) were sworn into office and a new Head of State was also sworn into office after elections.
On February 24, 1966 the First Republican Government was overthrown by a military coup which instated a military government that remained in power up to September, 1969, when, it decided to hand over power to another constitutionally elected government, and thereby restored parliamentary rule once again.
After being in office for only 22 months, the Second parliamentary democracy also succumbed to another military rule between January 1972 and October 1979, when under much political pressure, that military government was compelled to usher in the Third Republican parliamentary system. On 31st December, 1981, parliamentary democracy was once more thrown into cold storage as a result of yet another military coup. The country however returned to constitutional rule again on 7th January, 1993.
The 1992 Constitution therefore came into force for the Fourth Republic on 7th January 1993, following its overwhelming approval in a referendum held on April 28, 1992.
Ghana’s Constitution defines the fundamental political principles, establishing the structure, procedures, powers and duties of the Executive, structure of the Judiciary and Legislature, and spells out the fundamental rights and duties of a Ghanaian.
Also known as Constitution day, the day is intended to acknowledge Ghana’s collective efforts at ensuring that the tenets of democracy, rule of law and principles of constitutionalism are upheld.
The Fourth Republic has now lived longer than any of the three previous republics, which were all cut short by military coups.
In 2019, 7th January was observed for the first time as a Public Holiday – Constitution day. Government declared this day as an additional holiday under Section 2 of the Public Holiday Act, 2001 (Act 601).
The Constitution day is intended to remind Ghanaians of their commitment to upholding the tenets of the rule of law, constitutionalism and democracy. More significantly, the day is to remind all of their collective commitment to a regime of unbroken constitutional order.
In this regard the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban S. K. Bagbin, in his New Year Message, remarked that this year, Parliament will be dealing with advocacy, deepening the citizenry’s understanding of the country’s democracy. “In 2023, there are a number of programmes that I want to do with GTV, one of them is advocacy, definitely we will be dealing with advocacy, we will be going round the country with you, to deepen the understanding of the option of democracy that Ghana has chosen for itself” he said.
The Speaker of Parliament added that the Legislature will try to up its agenda on the Open Parliament initiative, as it wants to reach out to all.