Martin Amidu has launched a pointed critique against Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, the Chair of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), accusing him of hypocrisy and ideological inconsistency in his recent recommendations concerning the future of the Council of State.
In a statement reported by Joy FM on May 3, 2025, Amidu expressed his disdain for Prempeh’s reform ideas, asserting, “Firstly, the paradox, hypocrisy, and lack of narrative coherence in the suggestions attributed to Kwasi Prempeh… is the fact that Kwasi Prempeh accepted without demurrer his ‘handpicked’ appointment and served for almost years as a member of the Law Reform Commission after President Akufo-Addo had consulted the Council of State.”
Amidu contended that Prempeh’s current stance represents a calculated effort to undermine the very institution that facilitated his own ascent in politics. “Kwasi Prempeh now sees his suggestions as endemic sins of the Council of State. This is what is called double speak!” he remarked in an open letter shared with MyNewsGH.
He also questioned the credibility of the platforms and organizations from which Prempeh made his assertions, stating, “The IEA and CDD-Ghana have never been politically and ideologically neutral NGOs… These are comprador NGOs collaborating with other comprador Ghanaian political elites for political power to serve the interests of their financiers – the neocolonial foreign masters.”
Furthermore, Amidu challenged the philosophical foundation of Prempeh’s arguments for reform. “Mr. Prempeh is one of the ideological constitutional law advocates who deceptively pretend that the Constitutional document is self-executing instead of containing norms and rules that depend on the integrity of human actors.”
He emphasized that the issues of opacity, excessive presidential influence, and alleged non-binding advisory powers are not inherent flaws in the design of the Council but rather the result of human actors failing to uphold their oaths of office.
“The Council of State… was intended by the framers of the 1992 Constitution… to be constrained by the oath of office of members… which is not self-executing and enforcing, but mere words on paper… which depends solely on human actors and agency,” Amidu clarified.
He cautioned that if Prempeh’s recommendations were implemented, they could lead to constitutional amendments detrimental to the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC). “Amendments to other entrenched provisions of the 1992 Constitution… the NDC cannot win at any future referendum with grave consequences for their ambition for the 2028 elections,” he warned.
