Accra, Ghana//-Youth Platform on Constitution Reform, which is the youth group of the CSO Platform on Constitutional Reform (CSO-CRC Platform), today called on Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, as a matter of urgency to release the full report of the Constitution Review Committee (CRC) and announce the Constitutional Reform Implementation Committee within a week.
The Director of Policy and Research at Democracy Hub, Kirchuffs Atengble, said the group is only demanding four things from Mr Mahama and his government.
These four demands are: First, publish the full, unabridged report of the Constitution Review Committee without redaction and without further delay.
Second: Establish, within one week of this press conference, a multi-stakeholder Constitutional Reform Implementation Committee with a defined mandate, clear timelines, regional representation, and public accountability mechanisms.
“The composition of that Committee must include structured youth representation at the decision-making level. Youth inclusion must be substantive, not ceremonial”, Mr Atengble stated.
Third: We advise the Government against issuing a Government White Paper or executive position paper on the CRC recommendations prior to the conclusion of a structured national consultative process.
A position paper issued at this stage carries the risk of signalling a predetermined outcome, undermining public trust in the consultative process, and fracturing the cross-partisan consensus on which the viability of this reform depends.
The Implementation Committee is the appropriate vehicle for testing and refining positions before the Government commits to a formal stance.
Fourth: Establish a cross-party Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Constitutional Reform to track legislative progress, receive public submissions, and report quarterly to Parliament and to the public.
Parliamentary engagement at this stage is not procedural — constitutional amendment requires it, and its absence would represent a structural gap in the reform process.
He told journalists at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, April 21, that the Youth Platform on Constitution Reform is pushing for transparency and swift implementation of the proposed changes.
“The youth of Ghana are prepared to participate actively in every stage of this process. We are available as advocates, as civil society partners, and as direct participants in any consultative framework the Government establishes. What we are not prepared to do is wait indefinitely while a viable reform moment is allowed to pass.”
On the Summary Recommendations
The Youth Platform on Constitution Reform said they support the following proposals contained in the summary:
-The reduction of the minimum age for presidential candidacy from 40 to thirty years. The cap on total ministerial appointments.
-The prohibition on Members of Parliament serving simultaneously as Ministers or Deputy Ministers.
-The extension of presidential and parliamentary terms from four to five years.
-The removal of restrictions on dual citizens contesting parliamentary elections. -The constitutional recognition of a right to public participation in the legislative process.
On party financing and internal democracy, they said they support the abolition of the delegate system in favour of full membership voting for parliamentary and presidential candidates, the establishment of an Independent Registrar and Regulator of Political Parties and Campaigns, and the creation of a Democracy Fund.
On the judiciary, “we support the proposed reduction of the concentration of administrative powers in the Office of the Chief Justice through the creation of separate administrative heads for the Court of Appeal and the High Courts”.
On decentralisation, we support the establishment of an Independent Devolution Commission and the direct election of Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives on a non-partisan basis, they added.
“Our support for each of these proposals is conditional. A summary document does not disclose the full rationale for each recommendation, the transitional provisions, or the precise constitutional language proposed. We cannot give unconditional endorsement to proposals whose full legal and institutional content remains unpublished.
The release of the full report is therefore the precondition for any further engagement by this Platform and by the Ghanaian public”.
Assessment of the Current Position
The CRC recommendations reflect a level of cross-partisan consensus that is not common in Ghana’s constitutional history.
That consensus is the product of a structured process and a specific political moment. It will not hold indefinitely, the Youth Platform noted.
Ghana’s constitutional reform history contains a clear precedent for what happens when committee reports are produced and not acted upon.
The work of the Fiadjoe Commission was serious and considered. It did not result in reform. The conditions that prevented implementation then — electoral proximity, shifting political priorities, loss of public momentum — are not unique to that period. They are structural features of the Ghanaian political cycle that this administration must actively manage if this process is to reach a different outcome.
The electoral calendar is a material constraint. A reform process that has not produced concrete legislative action before the next election cycle enters its active phase will, in all likelihood, not survive that phase. The window for action is defined, and it is not long.
The other youth-led civil society organisations comprising Ghana Youth Manifesto Coalition (GYMC), Young Urban Women’s Movement (YUWM), Youth With Disabilities, Ghana Youth Federation, Royal Africa Generational Thinkers (RAGeT-AFRICA), National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Economic Fighters League, Foundation for Security and Development In Africa (FOSDA), BudgIT Ghana, and Ghana Youth Federation pledged their support for the demands of the Youth Platform on Constitution Reform
