Press spotlights President’s plea for caution on constitution amendment, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called for the exercise of caution on the wholesale or limited amendment of the most successful and lasting Constitution in the history of the country, the 1992 Constitution is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called for the exercise of caution on the wholesale or limited amendment of the most successful and lasting Constitution in the history of the country, the 1992 Constitution.
He said without prejudging the outcome of the ongoing national debate, those calling for amendment should bear in mind that the 1992 Constitution had provided the bedrock for the longest uninterrupted, stable period of free governance in the otherwise turbulent history of the country.
“I can only say there is need for caution from all of us, by all of us in calling into question the Constitution which has provided the bedrock for the longest uninterrupted, stable period of free governance in our otherwise turbulent history,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo made the call when he swore in three members of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.
They are a Deputy Chairperson, Mr Victor K. Brobbey, and two members, Simon Ofori Ametepey and Bright Kwabla Agbodeka.
President Akufo-Addo made reference to the classical maxim: “Festina lente”, to wit “make haste slowly”, and urged the NCCE to be sensitive to the demands expressed in several quarters for wholesale or limited amendments to the Fourth Republican Constitution.
Although the President noted that all the functions of the commission were important, he singled out for special mention the significance of the function set out in Article 233 Clause C of the Constitution: “To formulate for the consideration of government, from time to time, programmes at the national, regional and district levels aimed at realising the objectives of this Constitution.”
He added that since its establishment some 30 years ago, the NCCE had done its part in helping Ghanaians to recognise their freedoms and civic rights, even though they could still do much better in that regard.
He indicated that despite concerns raised in some quarters over the effectiveness of the NCCE in the discharge of its functions, with some going as far as advocating its ability abolition, he was of a different opinion.
The newspaper says that Ghana’s position on the latest World Happiness Report, a United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network publication, has dropped to 111th in 2022 from 95th in 2021.
The report ranks countries based on their average life evaluations over the previous three years, with data collected from more than 150 countries through the Gallup World Poll.
Released on the International Day of Happiness (March 20), the report identifies the happiest and least happy nations, as well as the factors that lead to greater happiness.
Finland tops the list for the sixth year in a row, with Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands completing the top five.
Mauritius is the highest-ranked African country at 52nd, with no African nation in the top 50.
The report draws on global survey data from people in more than 150 countries. The data is based largely on life evaluations from the Gallup World Poll.
Countries are ranked on happiness based on their average life evaluations over the three preceding years, in this case 2020 to 2022.
According to the authors, the World Happiness Reports are based on a wide variety of data with the most important source being the Gallup World Poll.
This is the tenth anniversary of the World Happiness Report.
No African country was ranked among the top 50th happiest nation with Mauritius placing highest in 52nd place.
They were followed by Libya (86th), Cote d’ Ivoire (88th), South Africa (91st), Gambia (93rd), Algeria (96th), Liberia (97th), Congo Brazzaville (99th) and Morocco (100th).
The Ghanaian Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed the police to investigate allegations of the involvement of some government officials in illegal mining activities.
This follows a recent interview granted by Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, former Minister of Environment Science Technology and Innovations with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), State broadcaster, over the allegations.
Sources at the police headquarters confirmed the President‘s directive to the police, to Ghanaian Times, in Accra, yesterday.
Information gathered, revealed that the President gave the directive last week, and the Special Investigations Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service has commenced investigations into the matter.
It would be recalled that Prof. Frimpong-Boateng in a recent interview with the state broadcaster alleged that he was ousted from his position to pave the way for the NPP bigwigs to continue their galamsey activities.
He was later relieved of his post over some missing excavators.
Prof. Frimpong-Boatengin the interview disclosed, “there was an orchestration within the party and the government to get me out and when I left galamsey activities increased. Now things are coming up, and we know those who are doing galamsey even within the party and even people at the Jubilee House.”
He intimated that the allegation concerning some 500 missing excavators seized from persons engaged in illegal mining in 2020, were untrue, and made-up stories by some persons in government to tarnish his reputation in order to chase him out of office.
The former minister had disclosed that there were people in government that wanted him out because of his stance on illegal mining in the country.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng disclosed that the very beginning and actions of military personnel deployed to effect the arrest of illegal miners triggered the entire falsehood about him being responsible for the missing excavators.
The Minority Caucus in Parliament had called for investigations into the allegations by the former minister.
The newspaper says that five persons, including three children are reported dead after the boat they were travelling on from Azizanya to Azizakpe in the Ada East District, capsized on the Volta Lake, last Saturday.
The dead, comprise of two female adults and three children, were purportedly among 100 passengers traveling from Azizanya to attend a funeral at Azizakpe when the tragedy occurred.
The unidentified bodies have since been taken to the mortuary, and scores of victims have been saved by the rescue team.
The National Disaster and Management Organisation (NADMO) Director of Ada East District, Mr Ebenezer Teye-Nartey, confirmed the tragedy to the Ghanaian Times yesterday.
He said that the incident, which occurred around 8:30am, last Saturday, was said to have been triggered by strong waves on the lake.
Mr Teye-Nartey said that information revealed that the boat, which was supposed to carry between 40 and 50 people, was loaded with almost 100 passengers.
He stated that the boat capsized during the journey and the rescue team retrieved the bodies of two female adult between the ages of 30 and 40, and three children less than two years.
Mr Teye-Nartey said a rescue team managed to rescue scores of the victims, but the actual number of rescued persons could not be determined as those who were not injured had left home.
He said rescuers, including NADMO officials, personnel from the Ghana Police Service, Navy and community folks were still on the lake to retrieve bodies.
Mr Teye-Nartey said the boat was also recovered by the rescue team on Sunday noon.
Eyewitness told journalists that the boat was overloaded while passengers were not in life jackets when the incident happened.
GIK/APA