1992 Constitution has failed, reforms needed now - Abu Sakara

The Founder of the National Interest Movement (NIM), a non-partisan civil society organization that pursues the national interest for the greater common, Abu Sakara Foster, has said the demand for reforms in the constitution is gaining momentum because it has not helped the country to make progress since it’s inception.

The former presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (NPP) said while speaking to Alfred Ocansey on the #3FMSunrise Morning Show that ‘I think the issue about the constitution and reforms it has become very topical and it is because we have all realized that this journey we are on is not helping us making fast progress as we should be making. We do not live in isolation in this world, we have contemporary and we sight them all the time. Where are they now compared to us?’

He added, “So if we have not made that degree of progress then we must begin to ask ourselves what the roadblocks and the impediments and how question how to remove them from the system and those are all the reforms the reforms we have been advocating for have talked about.”

He believes that “the evidence is there, we do not have to argue about that, because both sides of the divide all cite the Koreas and the Singapore, etc.. as evidence of non-performance. So if we accept that, the issue that we must focus on is what are the things holding us back? “

Dr. Abu Sakara noted that “Constitution is the basis for all other things and if you close all the loopholes and open proper exits for certain actions around a binding vision, you will have much more effective and efficient development with less wastage and that means that you are able to achieve those things that people are crying for and in the order of the priority they are crying for them in a better way”.

That way, Dr. Abu Sakara noted, “the element of continuity is taken care of; secondly, there are other things that need to be done, it’s not just the national development plan.

You need to limit the excessive powers of the executive, like leaving it with the powers it needs but taking from it the powers and influence it should not have.”

He also proposed that “You should deconcentrate the power of the executive by strengthening independent constitutional bodies in a manner in which they are appointed independently by a known, designated national body that is also independent of the executive and they are funded directly through levies and their operations cannot be controlled by the executive.”

In his view, “if you do it this way, you won’t have a director of public prosecution who it takes about two years to fund”.