Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

Ghana is known for its frontrunner role in defining the African governance agenda and contributing to the peaceful settlement of disputes in (West) Africa. It was the first country to embark on the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), an African led approach to assess a country’s democratic state of affairs.

Recently, Ghana has embarked on a new initiative to deepen its democratic consolidation process by initiating the development of a national democratic reform agenda, called the Democracy Consolidation Strategy Paper (DCSP).

Home-grown

In 2005, the leaders of the four political parties in Parliament decided to join hands to develop a long term strategy to deepen Ghana’s democracy. The new reform agenda, to be discussed in Parliament later this year, offers a concrete agenda for political reforms. Eventually, it aims to replace the Governance chapter of Ghana’s Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS).

This home-grown initiative of Ghanaian political leaders is unique. It is a collective effort of Ghana’s parliamentary political parties and therefore driven by the political society, rather than civil society or international donors. Furthermore, there are no examples of such an initiative in the region. Potentially, it could become a promising answer to the much heard complaint that the good governance agenda of African countries, formulated in the national Poverty Reduction Plans, lacks the critical input and ownership of its key players, the political parties.

Ownership of reform

On request of the political parties the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Ghana commissioned a thorough analysis of Ghana’s state of democracy with practical suggestions for reform. Key challenges are the need to address the ‘winner-takes–all’ provisions in the existing Constitution and related electoral law, state funding for political parties and the empowerment of independent constitutional bodies such as the Media and Electoral Commissions, the National Commission for Civic Education and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice.

To ensure broad ownership of a new democratic reform agenda, the research has been shared with a broad segment of Ghanaian society. Participants range from MPs to regional ministers and directors, local authorities, high court judges, school teachers, youth and women’s groups, nurses and religious and traditional leaders.

Budgeting for democracy

The next steps will be critical and challenging. On the basis of the outcomes of the consultation process, a budgeted reform agenda for democratic consolidation will be developed, to be presented to parliament later this year.

This will not be easy in a pre-election year with so many other issues on the political agenda. On the other hand, key stakeholders have already expressed their support for the reform agenda during the consultative process. This should facilitate the lobby process and enhance the chances for adoption of the reform agenda.

A second critical issue is to make sure that the new reform agenda is fully integrated into Ghana’s national planning and budget process. This will take more time and requires that the political reform agenda is synchronized with the planning and budgeting process for the third GPRS, starting in 2008.

If successful, this innovative initiative could have a significant impact on the deepening of Ghana’s democracy and serve as a leading example for other countries in the region.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a research and advocacy organization, based in Accra. IEA is the driving force behind the development of Ghana’s Democracy Consolidation Strategy Paper. NIMD is co-financer of this programme.