Wednesday, 1st June, 2022

Page 6
DAILY ANALYST Wednesday, 1st June, 2022
Mr Awudu Dramani
Sam, the Western
North Acting
Regional Director
of the National
Commission for Civic Education
(NCCE) has said the call for the
revisiting of the agenda for the
reforms of the 1992 Constitution
was in the right direction.
He said despite the
democratic gains and decades
of stability of the Constitution,
there have been loopholes that
have impeded its effectiveness
in yielding the country’s
expected good governance and
its attendants development
Legal Resources Centre,
a stakeholder in the
criminal justice delivery
system, has called for
the incorporation of
Ghana’s Case Tracking System
(CTS) in the training curriculum
of justice institutions.
The Centre said such an
initiative would help enhance
the understanding of officers on
CTS to work efficiently within
the justice delivery value chain.
This was said during a United
States Agency for International
Department (USAID)-led Justice
Sector Support Activity (JSSA)
to sensitisie officers from
Economic and Organised Crime
Office, Judicial Services, Police
and Prison Services, Attorney
General’s Office, opinion leaders
and the media on the need to
create awareness of the System.
The system is an integrated
software that tracks criminal
cases in the justice delivery
system from the inception until
their disposition.
It was launched by the
Government in 2018 supported by
USAID. It has online, offline, and
android versions.
Mr Enock Jengre, a Rule of
Law Specialist on the USAID
Justice Sector Support Activity
(JSSA), in an interview with the
Ghana News Agency, said the
System provides an integrated
database of cases that had been
registered within a given time,
limiting the issues of missing
dockets amongst others.
aspirations.
Mr Sam made the remark
when addressing participants
at the 2022 Constitutional Week
Celebration at Kinross Chrano
Goldmines at Sefwi-Wiawso
organised by the Western North
Regional Office of the NCCE.
It was on the theme: “Three
Decades of Uninterrupted
Constitutional Rule: Revisiting
the Agenda for Reforms” and
attended by officers from
the Police, Fire Service, and
Immigration.
The Acting Director said the
clause, “Revisiting the Agenda
for Reforms” in the theme,
was a clear indication that
previous attempts have been
made at making reforms to the
constitution, thus, the call for
constitutional reforms is not a
new thing.
He indicated that in January
2010, the government led by
late President John Evans Atta
Mills established a Constitution
Review Commission and gave
them a three-year mandate.
The mandate was to ascertain
from the people of Ghana their
views on the operations of the
Constitution and in particular,
its strengths and weaknesses;
and to articulate the concerns
of the people as regards the
amendments that may be
required for a comprehensive
review.
The rest was to make
recommendations to the
government for consideration
and provide a draft bill for an
amendment to the constitution.
Mr Sam said the former
President however gave a caveat
that the review process was
not expected to result in the
replacement of the constitution.
Rather, it was meant to suggest
amendments which could be
made to improve it.
He intimated that the Review
Commission completed their
work, submitted their findings
and recommendations to the
Include CTS in curriculum of justice
sector institutions – Legal Resources Centre
“Previously, if you want to
know how many cases across
a certain area that we had
registered, it may be difficult to
get because we didn’t have that
database but with the tracking
device now, we are able to follow
the cases,” he said.
Mr Jengre also said the
CTS allowed for easy and quick
sharing of information on cases
among justice institutions,
promoted transparency and
accountability and generated
reports to inform decisionmaking
by the State.
Mr Samuel Fant Kombian,
Monitoring, Evaluation and
Learning Specialist, Justice
Sector Support (JSS), told the
GNA that reliable internet
connectivity to ease the free flow
of data had been a challenge,
NCCE Director stresses the call
for 1992 Constitution reforms
though the System has an offline
version.
He also mentioned that
frequent transfers undertaken on
officers who had been trained on
the usage of the CTS had been a
challenge.
Mr Kombian said though not
everyone could access the system
all stakeholders, including
victims, were given updates at
every stage of the cases through
their contacts, adding that those
who could not read were called
and informed.
Madam Rosa Apronti Oppong,
a participant and representative
from International Justice
Mission, called on the operators
of the System to add the Social
Welfare Department onto the
System to track children.
President, white paper was issued
but the implementation of these
findings did not become exposed
giving some legal suits that met
the report.
He averred those recent
commentaries from individuals,
civil society organisations and
well-meaning Ghanaians have
called for the review of the
constitution to bring it up to
current prevailing realities and
factors in the country.
Mr Sam said the discussions
were because of the general
feeling that some of the
provisions in the current state of
the constitutions have outlived
their relevance or at worst, not
fit for purpose, hence, the NCCE’s
well-timed theme for this year’s
Constitution Week.
Commenting on the
loopholes or deficits that
have been attributed to the
constitution, he outlined five key
issues namely persist corruption,
inferior quality of leadership,
political exclusion, violence and
the monetization of politics, and
soaring unemployment rate and
poverty, which were shared by
majority of Ghanaians.
He noted that these
deficits have bred cynicism
among Ghanaians as regards
political parties and multiparty
democracy, bred apathy
among the citizenry, disengaged
the public in major aspects of
Level 100 students of
the Atebubu College
of education, in the
Atebubu Amantin
Municipality of the
Bono East Region, who reported
to the school for the semester,
without plastic chairs, as
prescribed by the Students
Representative Council (SRC)
have been sent home.
The SRC had in a
communique, on Wednesday,
25 May 2022, directed first-year
students to come along with
plastic chairs when reporting for
the semester.
The SRC’s directive was to
help address the problem of
inadequate furniture at the
college.
“Notwithstanding, the
ceremonial chairs you were
asked to buy, have called for a
restructure of your registration
into the various dormitories,
governance at both the grassroots
and national levels, deepened
marginalization, promoted
excessive power of the executive
and fester corruption.
During an open forum some
of the concerns submitted by the
participants was that the power
given to the President to appoint
the heads of the security services
should be curtailed and should in
turn be handed to the leadership
of the services.
They also submitted that
there should be a National
Development Plan, which should
be an entrenched provision
and binding on all successive
governments to promote
development and prevent
wastage of state resources arising
from neglect of uncompleted
projects of previous governments.
This plan they feel when
instituted will help in prudent
and judicious use of state
resources.
They recommended that
there should be equitable
remuneration for all public sector
workers thereby putting an end
to the preferential treatment of
some workers, Article 71 office
holders.
In this regard, they proposed
that the unjustified ex-gratia
should be abolished or if
maintained, all public workers
should benefit from the ex-gratia
to ensure equity.
First year Atebubu College of
Education students sent home for
refusing to bring plastic chairs
that is, all the mattresses would
be in the custody of the hall
president to whom you are to
submit your plastic chairs and
receive your mattress number of
which will be recorded against
your name,” the SRC noted in
the communique.
The SRC, therefore refused
level 100 students' entry for
reporting without their plastic
chairs.
A level 100 student, resident
in Atebubu, in a bid to caution
other students intending to
report for the semester without
the plastic chair, shared her
experience.
“I’m on an Okada en route to
my house, I live here in Atebubu.
When I arrived at the school, I
was not allowed to enter.
“So I’m on my way back
home because I’m not ready to
buy the plastic chair.”