Why I voted against 1992 Constitution – Sekou Nkrumah explains

Dr. Sekou Nkrumah, one of the sons of the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, has explained why he voted “No” in a referendum that approved the 1992 Constitution.

On April 28, 1992, Ghanaians went to the polls to vote for a new Constitution to mark the end of the military regime of the late President Jerry John Rawlings, which started in 1981.

The results indicated that the majority of the citizens voted “Yes” and by that had chosen democracy, that was how the Fourth Republic was born.

The results were; 3,408,119 voting ‘YES’ with 272,855 voting ‘NO.’ In percentage terms, 92.59% wanted a new Constitution whereas 7.41% were against it.

After three decades of political stability in Ghana, Sekou Nkrumah, has been recounting how and why Ghana has reached such height in its democratic dispensation.

Explaining his decision to vote against the new Constitution of Ghana in 1992, the son of Kwame Nkrumah, who was a one-time member of the opposition NDC said, at the time, he was reluctant and could not comprehend why Rawlings, who came into power through a military coup, would want to “buy” eight more years in the new democratic Ghana.

According to Sekou, he also voted “No” against the Constitution in 1992 because of the “indemnity clause that sought to protect Rawlings and his PNDC cohorts.”

“I could not understand why those who fought for probity and accountability, cannot face the music?” Dr. Nkrumah said in a post on his Facebook timeline on Thursday, April 28, 2022.

He said, those calling for constitutional reforms should take into consideration the views of the two dominant political parties (NPP and NDC).

“If these two parties who have shared power in the past 30 years do not want constitutional reforms, then it is going to be a long long struggle to achieve reforms.

“It will mean a lot of pressure from political activists, civil society etc and even then without penetrating the two main political parties, it will be a tall order,” Sekou Nkrumah noted.

To Kwame Nkrumah’s son, Ghanaians should be proud in celebrating the 1992 Constitution which has created political stability for the past three decades.

“We as a nation should be proud celebrating 30 years of constitutional rule. For three decades now we have enjoyed political stability, as we move forward towards our fight for economic freedom,” he stressed.

Read below Sekou Nkrumah’s full post.