THE issue of the Indemnity Clause and the role of chiefs in party politics keeps coming up at the district and community level consultations of the Constitution Review Commission.
All the contributors on the Indemnity Clause were of the view that the Indemnity Clause should be left as it is in the Constitution.
Mr Olabode Williams of the Ayawaso East Constituency in the Greater Accra Region said any attempt to remove it from the Constitution would open the floodgates of retribution and chaos in the country.
He said the peace prevailing in the country should not be taken for granted and that well- meaning Ghanaians had not forgotten the bloodshed in sister African countries such as Liberia, Cote ‘d’Ivoire and Kenya.
Mr Williams said Ghanaians were witnesses to the day when the former President, J J Rawlings was invited to the National Reconciliation sitting which attracted a lot of Ghanaians from the political divide in the country.
He explained that the presence of the thick crowd showed how Ghanaians could be passionate about the Indemnity Clause when expunged from the Constitution.
Ms Josephine Ameseya, a public servant in her contribution said chiefs in the country had people under them whom they controlled.
She said any attempt to involve chiefs in politics would lead to the polarisation of the people along political lines, which could lead to serious conflicts at the community level since all the people in the community, would not toe the line of their chiefs when it came to politics, and could lead to clashes between those who supported the chief and those against his party.
All contributors to these two issues expressed the same view that chaos and violence would ensue when the Indemnity Clause was removed from the Constitution and chiefs were allowed to participate actively in politics.
On the assemblies concept, contributors, however, differed in their opinions with some stating that the assembly concept had outlived its usefulness and ought to be scraped from the Constitution since most assembly members were not performing their roles as agents of development.
Other contributors, however, said the assembly members were working with scarce resources and that the Constitution should recognise the important roles they play and pay them salaries commensurate with Members of Parliament for them to deliver effectively.
Alhaji Abdul Aziz, a counsellor at Accra Metropolitan Assembly said the Constitution should place more emphasis on gender issues since in Ghana many inequality existed not only between men and women but between the disabled and abled bodies.
Mr Archibold Cabbina of Kokomlemle said the Constitution should be reviewed to limit the powers of the President to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Director of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) and other military chiefs to ensure that they worked without partiality.
Other consultative meetings on the Constitution were held in parts of Mamprobi and Ablekuma all in the Greater Accra Region.
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