It cautioned that a new Constitution or amendment of the Constitution would not guarantee the progress, growth and development of Ghana­ians “if we continue to be less patriotic.”

“A country with an abun­dance of laws that are flouted with impunity, a new constitu­tion or an amendment of the existing Constitution may not be the panacea to its challeng­es, rather, there ought to be a change of mindset and mend­ing of old ways,” the Commis­sion explained.

Kathleen Addy,the Chair­person of NCCE, noted that amendment of the Constitu­tion could be possible how­ever, citizens must ensure the amendment eradicated the ills as a society.

She reminded Ghanaians to be keenly aware of the many challenges plaguing the nation which many of them would not be resolved by constitutional amend­ments but by change of mindset and mending of lifestyle.

“No constitutional reform can guarantee that paid government employees do not extort arbitrary fees before rendering service to the citizenry, we can set ourselves up for disappointments if we pro­ceed as if constitutional reforms will resolve all pertinent issues faced as a people.

“Reform the constitution if you must, but we do not want it to be another processes that gets hijacked by the elite and interest groups with agenda,” MsAddys­tressed to buttress her point.

She underscored the need to chart a road map towards consti­tutional review that had multi-par­tisan and multi-stakeholder approach and that consideration should influence the processes.

According to her, if citizens did not get the dynamics right, at least the two leading political parties and all the other political parties involved, citizens would move and there would be nothing to build.

Ace Ankomah, a private legal practitioner, observed that Ghanaians did not deserve the Constitution they wanted to amend because they had failed to demand adherence to existing provisions crucial for deepening probity, accountability, democracy and transparency.

He pointed out that whilst Ghanaians sat aloof, the political class and other arms of gov­ernment had been engaged in gerrymandering and adoptedlack­luster approach over the past three decades in implementing certain provisions that would have had an immense benefit to the citizenry.

“These provisions include promulgation of spousal right property law, and the modifica­tion of loan regime so we must sit down and have introspection on how have we been faithful to the document that we want to be changed and if we have not been able to protect it, whatever we do will just be another piece of paper,” Mr Ankomah entreated.