National referendum towards amending the entrenched provisions of the 1992 Constitution as part of next year�s constitutional review exercise has been projected to cost $1.5 million.
The entire constitutional review is estimated to cost US$2.7 million, with the government contributing 20 per cent of that amount and the rest coming from donor sources.
Amending the entrenched provisions of the Constitution, which deal mainly with the Transitional Provisions, entails one of the most costly and elaborate processes under the supreme law of the land.
Under Article 290 of the Constitution, it has to begin with the Speaker of Parliament referring the proposals for amendment to the Council of State for its advice, after which �the Council of State shall render advice on the bill within 30 days after receiving it.�
The bill shall then be published in the Gazette but it shall not be introduced in Parliament until after six months after the publication in the Gazette.
�After the bill has been read the first time in Parliament, it shall not be proceeded with further unless it has been submitted to a referendum held throughout Ghana and at least 40 per cent of the persons entitled to vote, voted at the referendum and at least 75 per cent of the persons who voted cast their votes in favour of the passing of the bill.
�Where the bill is approved at the referendum, Parliament shall pass it. Where a bill for the amendment of an entrenched provision has been passed by Parliament in accordance with this article, the President shall assent to it.�
A Cabinet memorandum on the Consultative Review of 16 years of the operation of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana submitted by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, outlined the road map for the constitutional review process.
The document, which has already been endorsed by Cabinet, proposed the setting up of a Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) in June 2010 to work on amendments and reforms that needed to be effected in the 1992 Constitution.
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