The quest for inclusion and citizenship in Ghana: challenges and prospects

Abstract

Ghana's tortuous journey to democracy received a major boost in the year 2006 with the enactments of two human-rights-related pieces of legislation. In this article the author contends, on the one hand, that the recent enactments of an amendment to the law on representation of the people and the persons with disability law in Ghana constituted a noteworthy landmark in the search for inclusive citizenship. On the other hand, the relation between society and the political authority during the processes of the enactments highlighted characteristics of a post-colonial African state. The author explores the antagonisms that surrounded the enactments of these laws. The article concludes that although the Ghanaian experience represents a new wave of re-thinking of rights in Africa, it also underscores the deep-seated issues of contestation and negotiations that unavoidably accompany the expansion of democracy and extension of rights to the excluded and the marginalized.

Keywords:

• inclusive citizenship
• human rights
• post-colonial
• contestation
• representation

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Amin Alhassan of York University in Toronto, Canada and Jay Oelbaum for their useful comments on earlier versions of this article. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their critical feedback and to the editors of Citizenship Studies. An earlier version of this article was presented as part of a panel on ‘Rethinking rights in 21st century Ghana: new dimensions to contestation and negotiations with power’ at the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) annual meeting in Toronto, Canada on 19 May 2007.

Notes

 1. Rhoda E. Howard (1986), for example, notes that several Commonwealth African nations have failed to implement internally international and African rights instruments covering women to which they are signatory. Also, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report on Ghana (2005) showed that while Ghana had been quick in acceding to and recognizing international and regional standards and codes, a number of these remained outstanding, notably, the African Children Charter 1990, AU Convention against Corruption 2003, and Protocol on an African Court for People and Human Rights 1998. Similarly, Ian Taylor (2006) observes that Botswana as of 2005 was a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) treaty, but had not incorporated that into the national law. He also notes Botswanan non-adherence to treaties and conventions to which it is a signatory, particularly regarding academic freedom.

 2. Judith van Allen (2001) has analysed the instrumental role of a Botswana women's rights group, alongside trade unions and civic groups, as a basis of democratization in that country. For example, Judith described how these groups mobilized to challenge discrimination against women's rights regarding the lack of full citizenship by contesting the citizenship law with a view of changing it.

 3. HIPC is one of the IMF and the World Bank structural adjustment prescriptions for debt reduction in poor countries. It was one of the controversial economic policy programmes initiated by the NPP government immediately after assuming power in 2001.

 4. The military commando was a specialized unit established by the previous PNDC military government and continued to operate during the NDC as a separate protective military group of those regimes.

 5. The GFD is the umbrella and coordinating body for the various associations of the disabled, including the Ghana Association of the Blind, the Ghana National Association of the Deaf, the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, and the Ghana Society for the Mentally Disabled.

 6. Since the transition to democracy in 1993, there had been no deliberate government efforts to make sure that disabled persons, especially the blind, were able to register and vote in elections. It was only after the 2000 general elections that civil society organizations, such as the CDD-Ghana and the Ghana branch of Action on Disability and Development (ADD), working with the Electoral Commission (EC), began to mobilize the GFD to participate fully in elections. In the 2004 and 2008 elections, the GFD collaborated with CDD-Ghana to train disabled persons as domestic election observers. Also, the ADD, working with the EC, introduced tactile ballots for blind voters, after they had been tested in the 2002 local government elections. Tactile ballots were used for the December 2008 general elections.

 7. For some time (during 2004 and 2005), attempts to track the status of the draft Bill yielded no positive response. None of the government departments (the Attorney General, Social Welfare) and the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment seemed to know its whereabouts. In one of the consultative meetings organized by the CDD, it was discovered that inquiries made by the GFD about the Bill at the various departments suggested that the Bill could not be found.

 8. These observations were made by the author as someone who worked with CDD in its engagements with government on the law. While these fears regarding cost implications were not made public, they were genuine fears on the part of government and, particularly, the private sector.

 9. The CDD had, since 2004, consistently articulated the need for the government to enact the law in its research and briefing papers, as well as its quarterly newsletter. It took advantage of sessions with Parliament and the executive to remind them of their obligation to enact this law. For example, in two separate meetings with members of Parliament, one during an induction workshop for new members of Parliament at GIMPA in February 2005 and another in a meeting with the leadership, Committees' Chairs and Ranking Members in a workshop to review the 2005 budget in March, the CDD reminded the institution of Parliament of its failure to pass the Disability Bill as mandated by the 1992 Constitution. In addition, it sought to create a broad-based coalition, including the private sector, to get a buy-in of all stakeholders likely to be affected by the coming into force of the law. This was done through a series of workshops, media sensitization forums and roundtable discussions. Thus, CDD became the intellectual powerhouse of the GFD, doing all the lobbying for the law to be passed and making sure the subject stayed on the radar.

10. The transition to democracy since 1993 has witnessed improved government responsiveness to citizens regarding the respect for the rule of law, for human rights and for the strengthening of citizenship. The country has seen consistent improvement in the laws surrounding human rights. Notable among these changes are the repeal of criminal libel laws (to guarantee media freedom) that had been in the statute books since independence – indeed, it was inherited from colonial rule – and the recently enacted domestic violence law to protect women and children. In addition, the institution of the National Reconciliation Commission has to a large extent informed Ghanaians about abuses of the past and strengthened their commitment to not letting these atrocities occur again.

11. The ‘Afrobarometer’ is an independent and non-partisan comparative research project that measures national public attitude to the social, political and economic environments in Africa. It is currently being conducted in 18 countries on a regular cycle, and has conducted three rounds (1999, 2002, 2005) since its inception. It is managed by CDD-Ghana, IDASA in South Africa and the Department of Political Science in Michigan State University, USA.

12. This is based on the author's personal observations following the process of, discussion of and negotiations on the disability law.