 CONSTITUTION AND POLITICS |
 A/ Introduction
Ghana has now a constitution accepted through a national referendum held in 1992. After 11 years of military rule, the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) handed over power to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) an elected constitutional government under a multi-party parliamentary system.
The second presidential and parliamentary elections held in December 1996, retained Jerry John Rawlings as President for a second term of four years. In the 2000 general elections after Jerry John Rawlings had completed his two terms in office and had stepped down, his vice, Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills lost the elections in the presidential race to John Agyekum Kufuor, then the leader of the biggest opposition party the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which now forms the government.
B- Principles
The Constitution that established the Fourth Republic provided a basic chart for the Republican democratic government. It declared Ghana to be a unitary Republic with sovereignty lying in the Ghanaian people, intended at preventing future coups, dictatorial government, and one-party states, it is designed to establish the concept of power sharing. The document reflects lessons learnt from the abrogated constitutions of the 1957, 1960, 1969 and 1979, and incorporates provisions and institutions drawn from British and American constitutional models. One controversial provision of the Constitution indemnifies members and appointees of the PNDC from liability for any official act or balances, with power shared between a president, a unicameral parliament, a 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 head of state, head of government, and commander in chief of the armed forces. He also appoints the vice president. According to the Constitution, more that half of the presidential appointed ministers of state must be appointed from among members of Parliament.
Legislative functions are vested in Parliament, which consists of a unicameral 200-member body plus the Speaker. To become law, legislation must have the assent of the president, who has a qualified veto over all bills except those to which a vote of urgency is attached. Members of Parliament are popularly elected by universal adult suffrage for terms of four years, except in wartime, when terms may be extended for not more than 12 months at a time beyond the four years.
The structures and the power of the judiciary are independent of the two other branches of government. The Supreme Court has broad powers of judicial review. It is authorized by the Constitution to rule on the Constitutionality of any legislation or executive action at the request of any aggrieved citizen. The hierarchy of courts derives largely from British juridical forms. 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 or tribunals as Parliament may establish. The courts have jurisdiction over all civil and criminal.
C/ Main figures in Ghana’s history
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
Born in September 1990 and died on 27th April 1972 in Bucharest - first Prime Minister of Ghana and President of the Republic. Kwame Nkrumah headed Ghana from independence in 1957 until 1966. Kwame Nkrumah's father was a goldsmith and his mother a retail trader. | After graduation at Achimota College in 1930, he started his career as a teacher in Elmina and Axim. Nkrumah continued his studies in the United States. He entered Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, in 1935 and after graduation in 1939,obtained a masters degree from Lincoln and from the University of Pennsylvania. He studied the literature of socialism and of nationalism intensively, especially Marcus Garvey, which enabled him to clarify his ideological position. He also immersed in political work, reorganizing and becoming President of the African Student's Association.
He enrolled at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences in 1945. He became president of the West African Student's Union, an official of other African organizations, and leader of "The Circle". In 1947, in his first major publication "Towards Colonial Freedom", he outlined an ideological blueprint for the anti-colonial struggle.
Invited to serve as General Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), formed by J.B. Danquah to work for self-government by constitutional means, Kwame Nkrumah returned home in late 1947. He began to create a mass base for the new movement. When extensive riots occurred in February 1948, the British ordered his detention with other leaders of the UGCC, but he was released in April to testify before a commission of enquiry.
As a split development between the middle-class leaders of the UGCC and the more radical supporters of Nkrumah, he launch the "Evening News" as a vehicle for his news in September 1948, and in June 1949, he announced the foundation of the new Convention People Party (CPP), which was committed to a program of immediate self-government.
In January 1950, he initiated a campaign of positive action: "Non-violence and non co-operation - the adoption of all legitimate and constitutional means by which we can cripple the forces of imperialism in the country". Services throughout the country were disrupted and Nkrumah was again arrested and sentenced to one year's imprisonment with hard labour. But the first general election (Feb. 8, 1951) demonstrated the support the CPP had already won. Elected to Parliament, Nkrumah was released from prison to become leader of government affairs and in 1952, Prime Minister. During a short visit to the U.S. in 1951 he received a L.L.D. degree from Lincoln University. Kwame Nkrumah's CPP held 72 out of 104 seats in Parliament when Ghana became independent in March 1957. Ghana became a Republic in 1960 and Nkrumah became its President.
Kwame Nkrumah wrote several books. Some of his best known works are: "African Must Unite", a general analysis of the issues facing the new African Nations; "Conscientiousness", a highly theoretical analysis of the ideology of de-colonization worked out by his followers; and "New-Colonialism"; "The Best Stage of Imperialism", an indictment of European and U.S. economic activity in Africa.
Nkrumah's international reputations leading spokesman in the cause of African Unity seemed to be further enhanced when he was invited to Hanoi by President Ho Chi Minh to present proposals for ending the Vietnam war.
While he was in Beijing, however, the army seized power on 24th February 1966. Nkrumah found asylum in Guinea where President Sekou Toure received him.
Dr. J. B. Danquah
Born in December 1895 at Bempong and died on 4th February 1965 in Nsawam. He was Dean of the Ghanaian nationalist politicians, and one of the principal opposition leaders to Kwame Nkrumah.
Educated in law and philosophy in London, Danquah established a private law office after his return to the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1927. He founded a newspaper, the "Times of West Africa". In 1931 and served as secretary of a delegation to the British Colonial Office in 1934 and as Secretary General of the Gold Coast Youth Conference (1937-47).
He actively sought for constitutional reforms in the early 1940s and became a member of the Legislative Council in 1946. He helped to found the United Gold Coast. Convention (UGCC), that demanded self-government.
Danquah was arrested, briefly after riots in 1948 together with Kwame Nkrumah, which greatly enhanced their prestige. Danquah was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1951 but failed to be re-elected in 1954 and 1956. In 1960 he decided to run for President against Nkrumah. Danqua received only 10% of the vote. He was imprisoned in 1961 under the Preventive Detention Act. Released in 1962 and elected President of the Ghana bar Association, he was again imprisoned early in 1964 and died a year late.
His writings include "Gold Coast: Akan Laws and Customs and the Akim Abuakwa Constitution (1928) and the Akan Doctrine of God (1944)". |
