The population of our country, Ghana is 30.8 million according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the conductors of the recent census exercise known as Population and Housing Census.
We have the 1992 Constitution, which is the supreme law of the country. It is a written law that is subject to amendments when any part of it becomes repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. We have other laws such as Acts of Parliament, Orders, rules and REGULATIONS, among others.
Others are Common laws, Existing and the Customary laws. Treaties and Conventions that are ratified by Parliament are also part of our laws.
The essence of these laws is to protect the citizens. They are also to ensure order in our nation, communities and in our homes.
Laws also help to develop our societies and by preventing crimes, lawlessness and chaotic acts.
There are 275 Members of Parliament (MPs), and about 4000 lawyers in the country.
Laws can be defined as rules or orders that can be enforced by our courts.
The question is, do Ghanaians know and understand the laws that govern their daily activities?
The answer is Most Ghanaians include the elites do not know, understand and appreciate their own laws. They are not familiar with them. Their generation and their application.
It is only when the breach happens then everyone runs helter skelter for the laws.
Laws are public assets and every citizen must know at least the basic one, that is, the supreme law of the country, the 1992 Constitution. We should dedicate ourselves by having copies of our Constitution and other laws and make conscious efforts to read them on regular basis.
Ministry of Information
National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE)
Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Office
Information Services Department and all the allied institutions should take the legal education and sensitization to the door steps of Ghanaians very paramount.
It is important for the Government to ensure that its citizens understand, own and appreciate the laws that affect them.
Since ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Parliament should also assist in this endeavor. The Members of Parliament should institute programs in their various constituencies to educate their constituents especially on the various Acts the House has passed or continue to pass.
The basic fundamental human rights of Ghanaians which should be the cardinal principles are missing in the diction of Ghanaians. For example right to education, right to life, right to health, right to privacy, right to protection etc. Such rights should be fundamentally understood by the majority of the citizens.
The institutions mentioned in this epistle should be up and doing and prosecute the education and the sensitization of legal education.
The excuse that budgetary allocation to those institutions is not enough should be discarded or discouraged. No one institution meets its entire budgetary allocation.
Ghanaians must be helped to understand and appreciate the laws that govern them.
One Ghana
One President
One Parliament
One Attorney General
One Judiciary
One national anthem
One national pledge
The same laws.
Ahmed Osumanu Halid
Nima 441