I have spent the past few months looking into this anecdotal but often repeated claim that the 1992 Constitution was made to favour Rawlings. I have said same myself on many occasions.
But truth be told, I have not found any evidence to substantiate this. In fact, I am led to believe that nothing could be further from the Truth.
That Constitution was not what Rawlings envisaged.
Truth is, the constitution was made to favour the political class around the regime, not Rawlings per se. It answered questions of exclusion of particular elite groups; and as such, was palatable to them as well. The 1992 Constitution consolidated access, power and privilege for those neoliberal cliques that had made a killing financially during the latter years of the PNDC.
It was never designed to further the popular Revolutionary ideas of either the PNDC or the AFRC.
Rawlings’ biggest limitation was that he himself was not legally inclined. He did not sufficiently understand the document drafted. He had no legal language to express his popular sentiments. In fact, the only thing from the initial PNDC populist spurge that was preserved was the Regional Tribunals.
But that was so circumscribed in design that it was meant to be ineffective. Plus, as soon as the ink was dry on the document, those elites undermined the Regional Tribunals. It is no surprise it is one of the parts of our constitution that practice intentionally repealed.
When you reflect on it all, considering the extent to which Rawlings had no hand in the 1992 Constitution, it will come as no surprise that the same constitution was immediately used to challenge his eligibility to contest the 1992 Election.
Political realism saved him, not law. By today’s jurisprudence, Rawlings would have been disqualified and prevented From participating in the 1992 elections.
Tertiary Minds Ghana 