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102
among urban-based groups .11 This crisis provided a
pretext for another coup by the Ghana Armed Forces in
1972, leading to the new National Redemption Council
(later reconstituted as the Supreme Military Council)
government .12 The country’s political evolution continued
when a ten-member Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
(AFRC) consisting of junior officers led by Flight Lieutenant
Jerry Rawlings overthrew the SMC government in
1979, and returned Ghana to civilian rule under the
Peoples National Party (PNP) government of Hilla Liman.
Nonetheless, the PNP government failed to address the
deteriorating economic conditions and widening gap
between the rich and the poor leading Rawlings and his
associates to launch another coup that overthrew Liman
in 1981. 13 The officers established the Provisional National
Defence Council (PNDC) government, dismissed the
constitution, dissolved parliament, and banned political
parties.
The democratic struggle intensified in the 1980s when prodemocracy
forces, including the Ghana Bar Association
and the National Union of Ghana Students, demanded
greater political freedom from the PNDC government. 14
The PNDC, however, resisted these demands by mobilizing
the support of alternative, albeit politically weak, groups
such as the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU)
and the 31st December Women’s Movement. Conversely,
the creation of the Movement for Freedom and Justice
(MFJ), an umbrella group of pro-democracy forces,
created a common platform for the pro-democracy
agenda and compelled the government to initiate the
process of democratization in 1991. 15 The democratic
transition included the adoption of a liberal democratic
constitution, followed by multi-party elections in 1992
and the emergence of a new political dispensation. 16
11. Ibid, (pp. 27). See also Coffey International (2011). Political Economy of Ghana and Thematic
Strategy Development for STAR-Ghana. Inception Report for Dfid STAR-Ghana, (pp. A 3.1 1-14)
and Aryeetey, Ernest et al. Economic Reforms in Ghana: The Miracle and the Mirage. Africa World
Press, Inc, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, 2000, (pp. 34)
12. Aryeetey et al, 2000, (pp. 34). In particular, ‘[t]he significance of the…austerity measures
lay largely in the fact that [coup leader Lieutenant-Colonel Kutu] Acheampong knew he could
now appeal to the wider resentment in the officer corps over reductions in their amenities and
allowances.’
13. For full treatment, see Hansen, Emmanuel and Collins, Paul (1980). The Army, the State, and
the ‘Rawlings Revolution’ in Ghana African Affairs, 79 (314), (pp. 3-23).
14. Gyimah-Boadi, Emmanuel (1997). Civil Society in Africa: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. CIVNET,
1(1)
15. It is worth noting also that external pressure played a role in the PNDC’s return of Ghana
to multiparty democracy. At the time when ‘good governance’ was increasingly assuming
importance on the international development agenda and traditional donors were no longer
preoccupied with the demands of the Cold War, Rawlings and the PNDC were compelled
by donors to liberalize Ghana’s political system in exchange for badly needed development
assistance.
16. For details, see Gyimah-Boadi, Emmanuel (1991). Notes on Ghana’s Current Transition
Since 1992, Ghana has made significant advances in
democratic governance. The country is highly regarded
for its relative stability and democratic culture in a rather
violent and unstable West African sub-region. Aside
from a vibrant media and an increasingly assertive civil
society, Ghana’s democratic progress is evidenced by two
decades of uninterrupted civilian rule, five successive
multi-party elections without large-scale violence, and
peaceful alternation of power between the two main
political parties – the centre-right New Patriotic Party
(NPP) currently led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,
and the center-left National Democratic Congress (NDC)
led by incumbent President John Dramani Mahama 17 –
in 2001 and 2009. 18 The two main political parties have
dominated the Ghanaian political landscape throughout
the Fourth Republic. 19 A third party, the Convention
Peoples Party (CPP) led by Foster Abu Sakara, promotes
Kwame Nkrumah’s ideas of self-reliance and social justice
but has consistently performed poorly in presidential
and parliamentary elections. 20 Other smaller parties
including the People’s National Convention (PNC) and the
Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) led by Paa Kwesi Ndoum
lack the requisite national reach to meaningfully impact
elections and national policy. 21
Despite their ideological differences, both the NDC and the
NPP are practically identifiable by their ethnic character
rather than their public policies. The NPP is perceived as an
Akan (particularly Ashanti and Akyem)-based party as it is
dominated by Akan elites and draws strong support from
Ashantis and Akyems in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions,
as well as Akan-speaking areas. 22 The NDC, in contrast, is
to Constitutional Rule. Africa Today, 38 (4); Hawley, Edward (ed.) (1991). Ghana: The Process of
Political and Economic Change 1991-1992. Africa Today, 38(4).
17. The NDC was led by President John Atta-Mills, who passed away during the process of
finalizing this case study in July 2012.
18. Nonetheless, Ghana narrowly avoided a major political crisis in early 2009 when then-ruling
New Patriotic Party flirted with the idea of contesting the NDC’s narrow victory.
19. The two parties currently control 221 of the 228 seats in parliament. Nonetheless, support
for both parties is nearly evenly split, as evidenced by the less than 41,000 votes that decided
the presidential election in December 2008. See Electoral Commission of Ghana (2008), 2008
Presidential Results Summary, at http://www.ec.gov.gh/page.php?page=395&section=51&typ=1
(Accessed 18 June 2012). In the second round of the presidential election, Atta Mills received
4,521,031 while Akufo-Addo of the NPP received 4,480,446.
20. See Electoral Commission of Ghana (2008), 2008 Presidential Results Summary, at http://
www.ec.gov.gh/page.php?page=395&section=51&typ=1 (Accessed 18 June 2012); Electoral
Commission of Ghana (2004), ‘2004 Presidential Results Data Sheet’ at http://www.ec.gov.
gh/assets/file/2004PresidentialResults.pdf (Accessed 18 June 2012). For instance, the CPP’s
presidential candidate Paa Kwesi Ndoum received 1.34 percent of the vote in December 2008
while the party won only 1 parliamentary seat. The 2004 presidential candidate George Aggudey
received 0.99 percent of the vote
21. The PPP was only launched in 2012 after an internal feud among the leadership of the CPP.
Nonetheless, smaller parties are largely invisible to the Ghanaian electoral and mostly disappear
from the political scene after an election period, only to resurface a few months before elections.
22. See Electoral Commission of Ghana, Presidential Results; Parliamentary Results In the 2008
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