ABSTRACT
Under Art 73 of the preceding Independence Constitution (1966), the procedures for amending certain provisions included the holding of a referendum. On April 1978, Constitution (Amendment) Bill No 8 of 1978 was introduced in Parliament with a proposal to change Art 73 of the Constitution so as to remove the requirement for holding a referendum and to enable provisions of that kind to be amended by a Bill supported by not less than two-thirds of all elected members of the National Assembly. The stated purpose of the amendment in the words of the then Prime Minister was that ‘[A]fter the Constitution has been so amended, it will be competent for Parliament to replace the existing Constitution and to replace it by another without the necessity of a referendum.’
