Coups never solve any problem - Prof. Kofi Abotsi

West Africa experiencing coups in recent years

Periodically review constitution - Prof. Abotsi

Absence of constitution review promotes hopelessness - Abotsi

The Dean of the University for Professional Studies Law School, Prof. Kofi Abotsi, has served caution to persons interested in resorting to coups as a means of resolving challenges being faced by the country, to have a rethink.

He explained that while it might seem like coup d’états are solutions to especially economically-challenged countries, falling on the history of the rippling effects that these military takeovers have had on economies, it would be most imprudent to consider them.

The law professor was speaking during an event on the review of the 1992 constitution in Accra when he made the comments.

Prof Abotsi stated that coups have been more disastrous than they have ever solved any problem and as such, it would be the most disastrous decision for anyone to make.

“Coups have never solved anything in Ghana and therefore if anybody is contemplating it, if there are any worries about this, we should remember our history. Coups have always come trying to correct problems but they have actually come leaving problems more complicated. So, we may have a problem but the solution should not itself become another problem,” he said.

Prof. Kofi Abotsi added that it is for such reasons that the 1992 constitution of Ghana needs periodic reviews to diffuse any threats of hopelessness among the people.

“Constitutions grow through a process of review. In the absence of constitutional review, what we have is constitutional hopelessness,” he said.

Until Ghana's current republic, the country had been riddled with some coups.

In recent years, the West African sub-region has also been hit by a few coups with the most recent case, having been in Ghana's neighbouring Burkina Faso.