Ashanti churches want implementation of CRC White Paper suspended
The Local Council of Christian Churches in the Ashanti Region have appealed to government to hold on with the implementation of the White Paper on the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) report until its flaws were corrected.
It described the sidestepping of the separation of the Attorney General’s Department from the Justice Ministry, for example, as a serious omission that needed to be tackled.
The Council in a press statement read by the Anglican Bishop of Kumasi, the Right Reverend Dr Daniel Yinkah Sarfo, in Kumasi on Monday, invited the media and civil society to join it in the crusade to get the issue revisited.
This came at the end of its third quarter non-denominational pastors prayer meeting held at the Salvation Army Church, under the theme: “Preparing Ghana for a peaceful and successful 2012 elections”.
The Council said controversial judgment debts paid by the state must be a wake-up to the nation to sit up.
The saga has exposed the country as “very vulnerable entity in spite of her esteemed intelligence and rich human resources”.
“We believe that one major failure that has given rise to all this is the failure of governments (both past and present) to decouple the position of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
The felt need is not new to our political system but our politicians are unwilling to decouple that Ministry because the existing arrangement has always favored the government in power.”
The Council insisted that what Ghana needed was an independent state prosecutor, who would serve the interest of the population and not only the government of the day; “not only concerning judgment debts but also, ultimately ensuring a fair legal system for all”.
It said it was also its position that the CRC recommendations should have been adopted for implementation in totality without rejection of any aspects by the government.
“Even though government is not bound to accept every recommendation of the Commission, it is our candid opinion that since the recommendations are the passionate views of the general populace, government should give it a second thought for implementation.”
It hailed as refreshing the hint by President John Dramani Mahama in his recent policy statement that the door was not closed.
Source: GNA