Page 76 - Afrika Must Unite

ACHIEVING OUR SOVEREIGNTY 6l
cast in favour thereof at the third meeting of the Assembly
amounted to not less than two-thirds of the whole number of
Members of Parliament.

In short, a simple parliam entary majority could not change
any part of the constitution, nor even a two-thirds majority of
members present and voting. There had to be a supporting vote
from two-thirds of the total membership of the Assembly. O ur
opposition was not even obliged to be present at the debate on a
Bill for constitutional change. M erely by the fact of being an
opposition it could, if its numbers were large enough, destroy any
likelihood of constitutional change. This is surely giving an odd
twist to the democratic principle.
As a m atter of fact, the popularity of the Government in the
country, and the strength of the C.P.P. in the National Assembly,
were such that we could have changed its terms absolutely in
accord with the constitution, shortly after becoming free in 1957.
The C.P.P. enjoyed a parliam entary majority which would have
given us the required over-all two-thirds vote; and that majority
increased as time went on. We would have been well within our
rights to present a Bill to the Assembly scrapping ‘The Ghana
(Constitution) O rder in Council, 1957’. This, however, I was
reluctant to do. Public opinion, both at home and abroad, is not
normally so well-informed and so equipped with detailed in­
formation on constitutional m atters that it would have under­
stood the absolute legality of our action. The issue would at once
have become controversial and the idea spread that we were
guilty of a breach of faith. It was no part of my purpose to start
our existence as an independent country clouded by the suspicion
that we had broken a contract, irrespective of the moral duress
under which we had signed it. Knowledge of this duress, in any
event, was not public. Having consideration for all the factors
involved, we decided that we would let the constitution stand
and respect all its clauses. We would proceed to procure its
alteration when the appropriate occasion presented itself, in
conformity with its terms.
M eantime, our first duty was to ensure the unity of the nation
and its tranquillity, in order to go forward with our tasks of
development.