Professor Albert Fiadjoe, Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) on Saturday commended Ghanaians for their engagement, support and the various submissions made to the commission to aid in the effective execution of the commission’s mandate.

Professor Fiadjoe said the commission was overwhelmed by the massive participation and contribution of Ghanaians home, abroad and as well as the Diaspora in seeking a constitutional change that would be development driven rather than political.

The Chairman of the CRC said this at a media engagement organized by the Ministry of Information on the Report of the CRC and the Government White Paper issued on the Report to solicit media assistance in educating the public on the report at Takoradi in the Western Region.

He said the CRC received 83, 616 submissions gathered from regional and districts fora, mini consultations with relevant organization, follow-‘up on community as well as the Diaspora, and therefore lauded the level of participation by the citizenry.

Professor Fiadjoe said the public could still enter submissions through the Ministry of Justice, Council of State, Parliament and ultimately the referendum to be held soonest to vote on the various recommendations listed by the CRC.

The CRC 960 page report covers issues on National Development Planning, Executive Powers, Legislative Powers, Judiciary, Public Service, Independent Constitutional bodies, Decentralization and Local Government, Traditional Authority and National Security.

The rest are Lands and Natural resources, Human Rights and other such miscellaneous issues as raised by the public.

The CRC Chairman noted that all the recommendations set out in the report was reached predominately using Ghana as the yardstick and not any individual body or political party, adding, “All recommendations were made upon deep reflection and not a casual work”.

He noted that already, countries such as Tanzania, Kenya and the Netherlands among others have come in to learn from Ghana’s experience with the process of constitutional review.

Professor Fiadjoe said this was the time for Ghanaians to reaffirm their enduring spirit to achieve a strong and prosperous nation based on good democratic credentials; adding that, constitutional review was therefore an important tool with the passage of time.

The CRC Chairman called on the media who are the main agent of the information dissemination on the CRC, to use simple phrases and diction in communicating the recommendations to Ghanaians.

Dr Raymond Atuguba, Executive Secretary to the CRC, said the Commission adopted a highly participatory qualitative inquiry methodology involving over millions of Ghanaians through traditional and new media aside the formal submissions.

He added that CRC had indeed worked hard to fulfill its mandate as per their establishment in January 2010, and prayed that the report would be a, “A biography of Ghana for holistic development”.**