Constitution and Responsibility: Legal Expert Explains Where Ukrainians Made a Mistake in 1996

Legal expert Viktor Shyshkin stated that Ukraine does not need a completely new Constitution, but rather amendments to the existing one — particularly regarding the responsibility of public officials for decisions made while in office, Politeka reports.
He discussed this on the program “7 Steps.”

“Should the Constitution be amended? Yes. But to write a new Constitution… I believe that the current text has not yet exhausted itself. Therefore, certain changes, or rather additions, should be made. For example, I can admit our mistake and ‘sprinkle ashes on my head’ for the fact that in the 1996 Constitution, we failed to emphasize the responsibility of state authorities for the decisions they make. The Constitution does not contain such a provision — responsibility is not fixed there. And if it’s not fixed, then it doesn’t exist,” notes Viktor Shyshkin.

As an example, the guest cites Pylyp Orlyk’s Constitution of 1710, which imposed responsibility on colonels and centurions for carrying out their duties. The Zaporizhian Host, he reminds, had an administrative and territorial structure — meaning the colonels and centurions were not only military commanders but also administrators, much like today’s civil-military administrations during martial law.

Naturally, the legal expert observes, a Constitution is not an instruction manual for a washing machine — it doesn’t specify punishments in detail as the Criminal Code does; that’s what additional acts are for. However, he emphasizes, Pylyp Orlyk’s Constitution stipulated that colonels and officers were accountable for fulfilling their functions, while in Ukraine’s current Constitution there is no provision stating that the president, deputies, or ministers bear such responsibility.

“Responsibility today is essentially only political — from the people. We already have our sixth president, and we talk about the responsibility of the previous one merely through the fact that he wasn’t re-elected. That’s political responsibility. But we can speak about more serious forms of accountability — not only during the election campaign, but while a person is still in office. In other words, we have matured enough to recognize the need for real responsibility and even to recall the experience of Pylyp Orlyk’s Constitution. And I believe that in the same way, we must continue to mature toward other necessary changes,” concludes Viktor Shyshkin.

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