The former President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has said that his return to power as President will see a review of Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution.
He said as soon as he stepped into office in 2025, he would set up a committee to review Article 71 with the aim of scrapping it, adding that ex-gratia to public sector and civil servants would suffer the same fate.
He said in order to save the public purse and also get his government running on the path to recovery, he would depend on lean Ministers and deputy Ministers of about 60 to run his government.
Mr Mahama said these yesterday at the launch of his campaign to become the flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to lead them in the 2024 general elections.
The event, held at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) Cedi Hall in Ho, was filled to capacity with many of the supporters having to watch proceedings from a huge screen outside.
With the arrival of the campaign team all clad in white apparel, the place was electrified as the team strode into the Hall.
When he mounted the podium, he wasted no time in pointing out the shortfalls of the current government, which has brought untold hardship and financial distress to the people.
He said pensioners and the aged had not been spared the economic hardship the country was going through, while the government looked on unconcern doing nothing to mitigate the plight of the people by at least reducing the number of Ministers and their deputies to save some money which could be invested in the economy.
Mr Mahama said the country was broke, with all financial grading institutions downgrading Ghana to the level never seen before in the history of the nation, while the country was defaulting on its debt, both locally and on the international financial markets.
He said after a thorough assessment of the situation and looking at where the nation was heading, his reflections guided his intention to run for the highest office again to reverse where the country was heading to, adding “it was only an experienced person, a visionary, a person who has been there before, seen it all and knows what to do before getting into the office”.
Ex-President Mahama said after having observed the shortcomings of the government and tried to give advice here and there which were not heeded, he said it was on this note he offered himself again to take up the stewardship of government to turn things around.
He said on his return to run the country, there would be a lot of reforms and changes to reverse the situation while there would be various engagement with both public and private institutions to know their challenges.
Mr Mahama said the citizens would not be left out of these engagements since the feedback would certainly be the guide to the governance he envisaged as being all inclusive.
FROM LAWRENCE MARKWEI, HO
