Veteran journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has offered a rare, candid account of the events leading to the approval of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, describing it as a flawed document born out of political expediency and strategic compromise.
Appearing on Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV with host Moro Awudu, Mr Pratt recounted how key opposition figures including himself were deeply opposed to endorsing the constitution as it was drafted, warning that it was structurally weak and written by people with sympathies to the then-ruling Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
“It wasn’t a gift from the NDC. The constitution was written during 1991 to 1992, at a time when the Ghana Bar Association had boycotted the process,” he said.
“It was largely done by individuals and institutions who had no major issues with the PNDC.”
He pointed out that despite these shortcomings, leading figures like Professor Adu Boahen strongly encouraged Ghanaians to vote for the constitution in the referendum that followed.
“Their argument was simple,” Pratt recalled.
“If we don’t approve this constitution, the PNDC will stay in power longer. So they told people to endorse it—flaws and all—and defeat the PNDC in elections later, then change the constitution.”
But not everyone agreed with this strategy. Mr Pratt said he, along with figures like Nde Bugri and the late Akoto Ampaw, advocated for a transitional government to oversee elections and revise the draft constitution first.
In the end, the majority followed Prof. Boahen’s pragmatic path, hoping to win the elections and reform the system from within.
“Unfortunately, they didn’t win. They claimed the election was not free and fair. We told them but they didn’t listen. And all the defects we warned about in the constitution are still with us today,” Pratt noted.
“After the election, they came back complaining that the process wasn’t fair but by then, the damage was done.”
“We have been operating this constitution from 1992 yet it hasn’t been amended. All the defects we saw are still there. They came crying foul after the election.
