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BAFFOUR APPIAH-KORANG

COUNTRY: GHANA

PAPER OUTLINE

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Statement of Objectives of the paper

B. Definition of development

II. SOCIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

A. Ethnic groups and Historical background

1. Ethnic composition

2. Historical overview

3. Cultural and religious differences

VI. POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

A. Type of Government

B. Political stability current and past- history of Ghana struggle for democracy

- Different coups and struggles

C. Human rights- violations and handling process

- Traditional practices that violate Human rights

e.g. rites of passage

- Female Genital Mutilation

- Chieftaincy practices and traditional beliefs

D. Poor governance and corruption- occurrences, severity or the problem, solutions.

E. Economic problems

VII. SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS LISTED ABOVE

VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations.




COUNTRY: GHANA

INTRODUCTION

Though Ghana is considered one of the success stories in Africa, the country still has its

fair share of problems that have prevented it from achieving its full potential. The aim of this

report is to highlight some of the political and economic problems that have affected the

development of Ghana. In this analysis, given the potential Ghana has, we will describe

development in a number of ways. The progression of a nation in maximizing its potential in

terms of economic resources. The ability to have an efficient representative government while

minimizing corruption and, the attainment of some form of international basic human rights

standards. The analyses therefore will look at reasons as to why Ghana has not fully developed

in terms of the criteria highlighted above.

The paper will look at issues such as the efficiency of the government structure in Ghana

and whether it allows for the representation of all ethnic groups and cultures in the country.

The different arms of government and how it may help control corruption. Human rights

violations and what attempts have been made in the past to solve this issue. The economic

conditions and trends, and how the government structure has affected negatively or positively

why the economy is where it is at this point in time.

COUNTRY BACKGROUND AND POLITICAL HISTORY

Ghana is one of the success stories in sub-Saharan Africa politically and economically. The country is

located in the heart of the west coast of Africa, bounded by Togo on the east, la Cote d’Ivoire to the

west and Burkina Faso to the north. Ghana is a relatively small country. It is approximately 238,538 sq




COUNTRY: GHANA

km (92,100 sq mi); about the size of Illinois and Indiana combined. 1 Ghana has 10 sub regions

all with regional governments and regional ministers. These regions are further divided into 230

constituencies. Ghana is considered one of the leading countries with regards to political stability and

economic growth in Africa and is aiming to be classified as a middle income economy by 2020. She

gained her independence in 1957after years of British colonization, becoming the first sub-African

nation to gain independence. Since then, Ghana has grown to become the second largest exporter of

cocoa and a tourist destination for people all over the world. Yet, Ghana’s journey from independence

to date has not been all rosy.

In 1821, the British government took control of the British trading forts on the coast of Ghana;

then called the gold coast. At this time, an agreement signed between the local chiefs and the British

became the legal stepping stone for colonialism.

Though exploited, as most colonies are, for her natural resources, Ghana was able to gain

independence through Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Unfortunately what was supposed to be a promise of hope

and development turned into almost 30 years of political instability.

After independence, Nkrumah sought to develop Ghana as a modern, semi-industrialized,

unitary socialist state. The government emphasized political and economic organization, endeavoring to

increase stability and productivity through labor, youth, farmers, cooperatives and other organizations.

A one party state was formed by Nkrumah and the political evolution continued. in 1966, Nkrumah was

over thrown and this led to a series of coup d’états that sent the country backwards rather than

forwards due to frequent changes in ideologies of how the country should be run.

1US Department of State. Background notes: Ghana (10/09)




COUNTRY: GHANA

After, Nkrumah was overthrown; the National Liberation Council (NLC) pledged early return to

an elected civilian government. Elections were held and K.A Busia won. Power was handed over but

Ghana’s economic problems worsened. There was high inflation and this caused discontent in the

nation. This unrest led to the military seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1972.

The 1972 coup was conducted by the national Redemption Council (NRC). This was headed by

the Col. IK Acheampong, and comprised of the head of the police and a civilian among others. The NRC

promised nationalism, economic development and self reliance. Like the previous governments, the NRC

was unable to deliver its promises, there was wide spread corruption among the leaders. Ghana was

then made a one party state and this was interpreted as I.K. Acheampong wanting to hold on to power.

This led to widespread strikes amongst students and professionals.

In 1979, the AFRC led by flt Lt. Jerry John Rawlings staged a violent bloody coup. They executed

8 senior military officer including Acheampong. They also established special tribunals that secretly tried

dozens of military officials. They were sent to long terms in prison and had their properties confiscated.

The AFRC tried attempted to rid the country of corruption and profiteering through a combination of

force and exhortation. The AFRC like the NLC conducted elections and returned power to civilian rule.

The new president, Dr Limman modeled the government after western democracies. Though,

the new president promoted democracy and individual human rights, he failed to halt continuing decline

in the economy and corruptions still flourished. This led to an increase in the income Gap. All these

factors led to a 2nd

coup by Rawlings in the same year.

Under the name Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC), Rawlings tried to root out

corruption. The country was turned to civilian government in 1992 with Rawlings’ new National




COUNTRY: GHANA

Democratic Congress (NDC) party winning the election. In 1996 the NDC won the election and Rawlings

served his second term. In 2000, the main opposition New Patriotic Party won the election and

remained in power until 2008, when the NDC won the general election and is ruling till present.

Ghana’s politics has been shadowed by corruption throughout its history. Rawlings’ violence

efforts to reduce corruption were generally frowned upon by the rich and elites in Ghana as most of

them were prosecuted; many of whom can draw lineage to some members of the current opposition

party NPP. This has caused major tensions between these groups to the extent that there is clearly a

distinction between the ethnic supporters of these parties.

The NDC is said to have majority support from the Volta Region, the region that contains the

ethnic tribe of the founder of the NDC: Rawlings. The NPP has major support from the Ashanti region

which was pretty well off because of all the gains from trading gold which is abundant in that region.

Surprisingly, after so many attempts by different leaders to root out corruption, corruption is

definitely still a major cause of concern for Ghana. Also, the issue of ethnicity in appointing government

officials is very evident.

ANALYSIS OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT

THE GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE

OVERVIEW

Ghana primarily has a democratic government as demanded by the constitution since 1993. After yo-

yoing back and forth between civilian and democratic rule, Ghana has had the longest democratic term




COUNTRY: GHANA

in her history. A term in which 3 different presidents have been chosen by the ballot with a change in

political parties twice.

The constitution of Ghana declares Ghana to be a unitary republic with sovereignty residing in

the democratic government. It is designed to prevent future coups, dictatorial government, and a one-

party state. It is designed to establish the concept of power sharing. Ghana’s government by

constitution calls for a system of checks and balances. Power is shared between a president, a

unicameral parliament, an advisory council of state, and an independent judiciary. Executive authority is

established in the office of the presidency, together with his council of state, the president is defined as

the head of state, head of government, and commander in chief of the armed forces.

Legislative authorities are exercised in parliament, which consists of a 230 member body

representing the 230 constituencies in Ghana. It is headed by a speaker of parliament. For the legislative

authorities to pass law, they must have the consent of the president, who is qualified to veto over all

bills except bills to which a status of urgency is attached. Members of parliament are allowed to have a

four year term after which there must be another election in the constituency. The structure of the

judiciary makes it independent of the two branches mentioned before. The hierarchy of courts is

derived mainly from the British system because of colonial rule. The hierarchy, called the superior court

of judicature, is composed of the supreme court of Ghana, the court of appeal, the high court of justice,

regional tribunals and such lower courts of tribunals as established by parliament.

In general, power is highly centralized at the federal level, based in Accra, the capital. Here the

trickle down system of governance is used. The federal government consists of the ministries and

parliament controls most of the budget and allocates money to the 10 different regions. The regional

governments also pursue development projects in their respective regions however, they have no




COUNTRY: GHANA

judicial power. Their main focus is to implement and conduct policies designed by the federal

government. The next authority is the constituencial authority. Ghana is divided into 230 constituencies

and each constituency is headed by a member of parliament. The authorities at this level also take

instructions from the regional governments in order to implement development projects. The district

assembly is the last line of government. These districts usually cover small communities and like the

other sub authorities get their funding and instructions from directly from the constituencies.

EFFECTS OF GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE ON DEVELOPMENT

The highly centralized and down flow of instructions in the Ghanaian government does not only

discourage the participation of the Ghanaian people but it also compliments corruption and inefficient.

In a system where money has to go through several different institutions before different projects are

implemented, there is inefficiency. Bureaucratization is increased through all the paperwork that has to

be done. This accounts one of the reasons why it takes so long for expensive projects especially on

infrastructure to be completed.

PARTICIPATION

The political structure does not encourage participation of the population. Constituencies elect

their representative to the house of parliament but because of the top down approach to governance,

these members of parliaments take more instructions on development projects instead of having the

liberty to solve specific problems relating to their constituencies. How will the centralized government

based in Accra the capital which is in the south, know the specific details of problems in little villages up

north and how to deal with them? The people in the little constituencies should be able to have some




COUNTRY: GHANA

form of self governance where they can be given some role in determining how they want their local

economy to run. This will give rise to participation of the population.

CORRUPTION

A third major problem of the political structure is the corruption it can support. There is a saying

that, “in Africa, the more hands money passes through, the less there will be at the end”. This will truly

be the case this system of governance. Corruption by leaders will definitely allow them to take some

portions of funds allocated for certain projects. These leaders could not be held accountable especially if

political transparency is not practiced widely.

CULTURE

Throughout Ghana’s democratic and government development process has always had to be

kept in balance with the local culture of the country. In a country where there are about 49 different

languages that can be written and read, one can only imagine the difficulty it is to not only uphold a

democracy, but introducing this new form of government that is representative of all the different

ethnic groups in the country. Because of the top down approach of the government, with so much

power concentrated at the capital, there are often tribal tensions as to who the people in power are

truly serving. There is usually the belief that most people try to develop more the areas of which their

ethnic groups inhabit. Indeed the support of the two major political parties could be divided amongst

the major ethnic groups in Ghana. This has strengthened the belief that, when a political party comes

into power they do try to develop those regions that put them in power.




COUNTRY: GHANA

In nutshell, Ghana has explored most of her natural resources in an efficient way and is known

as one of the success stories in Ghana. However, there is no doubt that the problems highlighted above

have still hindered the economic growth of the country. Ghana could be doing much better if some of

these problems had been tackled better or planned for.

HUMAN RIGHTS:

The main institution set up to make sure human rights laws are enforced is the Commission on

Human Rights and Administration (CHRAJ). The Commission's human rights a function is to

promote the rules and in order to protect prevent and enforce fundamental rights and

freedoms. The Commission also explores general complaints of human rights violations by

persons and institutions and is authorized to resolve these complaints though various methods,

these methods include mediation, negotiation, and formal hearings. CHRAJ also carries out

special investigations into human rights abuses that are systemic, cultural or in areas of public

interest. Research, field investigations, and public hearings are conducted in the course of these

investigations to ensure that the cracks of the matter are being dealt with. The Commission also

conducts research into the human rights penalties of bills and policies and recommends laws

that will strengthen the human rights situation of the country.

To promote human rights awareness, the Commission is mandated by of the

Constitution to sponsor public education programs. The Commission has the discretion to use a

wide variety of methods to achieve this goal, including use of mass media, publications, lectures

and symposia. In order to prevent human rights abuses, the Commission monitors the human

rights situation across the country. The Commission organizes monitoring visits to detention




COUNTRY: GHANA

This conflicting problem has grown to the point where there is concern about the future

of chieftaincy in Ghana. Chiefs of different tribes and ethnic groups are to uphold the

traditional law of their people. The laws that have defined these people since the days of the

Ashanti Empire, Gana Empire etc. to Ghanaians, culture is the pride and identification of an

individual. However modernization has seen a demographic shift in this belief. Many people are

now moving more towards religions like Christianity and Islam. Though many people still value

traditional laws, they do not conform to it entirely because of conflicts with their modern

religions. This is disobedience of the chief’s laws, and attempts to apply traditional sanctions

often lead to conflicts which have implications on the human rights of the people.

This is the main problem the CHRAJ faces and is working cumbersomely with the local

district authorities and even traditional authorities to try to reach these people.




COUNTRY: GHANA

APPENDIX B

NDC: national democratic congress. Political party currently in power. Was founded by Flt Lt

Jerry John Rawlings.

CPP: The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a socialist political party in Ghana, based on the

ideas of former President Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in 1949 by Kwame Nkrumah

to campaign for the independence of the Gold Coast. It ruled Ghana from 1957 to 1966. During

the latter part of the CPP rule, the constitution was changed to make it the only legal party in

Ghana, making the nation a one-party state. The party was banned after the February 24, 1966

coup d'état by the National Liberation Council.

GCPP: The Great Consolidated Popular Party is a political party in Ghana. Edward Mahama,

candidate of the Grand Coalition won 1.9% of the vote in the presidential elections.

NPP: The New Patriotic Party is the ruling liberal democratic party in Ghana and one of two

dominant parties in Ghanaian politics. The party is center-right, but is considered to be more

liberal than its leading rival, the National Democratic Congress




COUNTRY: GHANA

APPENDIX C:




COUNTRY: GHANA

APPENDIX E

MAP OF GHANA

SOURCE: CIA FACTBOOK




COUNTRY: GHANA

APPENDIX F

Awudu Yirimea, Alhaji Ahmed. “Rural Development and Environment, Ghana”

New York, April 7, 2008.

Ameh Robert Kwame “Uncovering Truth: Ghana’s National Reconciliation Commission

Excavation of Past Human Rights Abuses” Contemporary Justice Review Vol. 9, No. 4,

December 2006, pp. 345 –368

Atiemo, O. Amamfo “International Human Rights, Religious Pluralism, and the Future of

Chieftaincy in Ghana”

Daily guide “Unemployment rate rises” august 4th

2008

< http://topics.myjoyonline.com/business/200808/18992.asp>

“Ghana launches panel to investigate rights abus” New York Amsterdam News” May 16- May

22, 2002

Ghana Government. “The Implementation of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II)

2006 – 2009” Accra, Ghana. September, 2009 National Development Planning Commission.

“Gold mines in Ghana tackle chronic and acute power shortage problems.” E&MJ: Engineering & Mining Journal , June 1998: Vol. 199, Issue 6.

Mensah, Sam. “A review of SME Financing Schemes in Ghana.” UNIDO Regional Workshop of Financing

Small and Medium scale Enterprises. Accra, Ghana. March 2004.

Osabute D. Phyllis “Strengthing Human Rights in Ghana” November 8, 2006

World Bank Group. World Development Indicators 2008. Web November 2009 (DATABASE)

http://topics.myjoyonline.com/business/200808/18992.asp



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