�Tribalism, Corruption Killing Ghana�

Renowned Statesman, Lawyer and Industrialist, Mr. Akenten Appiah Menka, says corruption, tribalism and political polarization have taken over the nation and thus putting its life danger. He has, therefore, cautioned Ghanaians to change their attitude to avert any calamity from befalling the country. According to him, tribalism seems to be holding the nation to ransom, while political polarization and corruption have eaten into the moral fibre of the up and coming youth. Mr. Appiah Menka, a member of the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee (CRIC) indicated at a stakeholders meeting of the CRIC in Kumasi that he was worried about the youth, in the face of the looming mess lingering in the Ghanaian society. He noted that corruption had swept through all public offices and that if care is not taken Ghanaians would start demanding money from politicians before they vote for them. �Let us put stringent measures in place to arrest this menace. The Clergy and other well-meaning stakeholders must give this menace a swift attention, before danger strikes�, he cautioned. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Review Implementation Commission (CRIC) has recommended that all public institutions adopt gender policies, including recruitment policies, aimed at achieving a balanced structuring of those institutions in terms of gender. Professor Emmanuel Victor Oware Dankwa, Chairman of the Commission disclosed during the presentation of an abridged report to stakeholders in Kumasi that the CRIC has recommended that Parliament enacts a comprehensive Affirmative Action Act to address broader issues of equality of gender. Professor Dankwah noted that women are subject to a lot of inequality in African culture and the said recommendations will curb the growing menace in Ghana to give women equal opportunity just as the men. �The Commission recommends that the regulatory authorities work with various religious association to abate, if not eliminate, the many inimical practices some religious groups and their officers engage in, and which were the subject of many submissions to the Commission� the report stated. The Commission recommended that �political parties be encouraged to adopt Voluntary Political Party Quotas. Here, political parties may voluntarily include in their constitutions percentage of women to be presented as candidates for election or set and implement target to include a certain percentage of women as candidates for elections, beyond what is mandated in the Affirmative Action Law. The Electoral Commission may consider taking this up at the level of the inter-Party advisory Committee (IPAC)� it stated. Prof. Oware Dankwa said the recommendations were based on 3,000 written submissions the Commission received during its tour of the country and beyond. The CRIC chairman told stakeholders that Ghanaians will vote YES or NO in a referendum on the entrenched clauses in the 1992 for Parliament to amend those not entrenched in the Constitution. �We want to structure the referendum such that it will not confuse the electorate�, he stated. The academician stated that per the 1992 Constitution, 4O percent of the electorate would have to take part in a referendum in which 75 percent of the population must vote YES. The lawyer also touched on number issues, including the judiciary, where he stated that the Judiciary (Judges) will be protected. It was revealed that elections will be held sixty days before the President is sworn into office. Dr. Gheysika Agambila, a Member of the Constitutional Review Committee had recommended amendments in the 56 non-entrenched clauses towards an establishment of an Independent Emoluments Commission (IEC) as an independent a constitutional body, to determine the emoluments of all public officers.