Evolution of Parliamentary Democracy in Ghana

By:   S.N. DARKWA
       (A former Clerk to Parliament)

The British colonial government first exercised legislative power in Ghana, (then called the Gold Coast) between 1850 and 1957. The Legislative Council advised the colonial governor in enacting laws and drawing up the budget for the Gold Coast colony.

The governor, however, retained all legislative and executive powers. The Legislative Council was purely an advisory body and the governor was not bound to follow the council’s advice, even if reached unanimously. Members of the Legislative Council were not elected but nominated by the governor.

From 1866 to 1874, the Gold Coast was reunited with West African settlements. In 1884 the Gold Coast was again given a separate government with limited powers. In 1888 the first African unofficial member, John Mensah Sarbah, was nominated to the Legislative Council.

In 1916, the Legislative Council was reconstituted to include nine nominated ‘unofficials’, six of whom were Africans, against eleven officials and the governor. The first Legislative elections took place under the 1925 Guggisberg Constitution.

Under that constitution, six of the 14 unofficial members were elected by the Provincial Council of Chiefs, rate payers of Accra; Cape Coast and Sekondi also elected three members and five were nominated European officials. The government was enlarged for the first time in the British colony to include 15 officials and the governor who had to vote in accordance with government policy.

The government could force through the council any measure by its majority. Initiative rested with the governor. The significance of the Guggisberg Constitution is that it introduced the elective principle for the first time in the Gold Coast.

THE 1946 Burns Constitution replaced the Guggisberg Constitution. The Burns Constitution increased the number of elected representatives who formed majority in the Legislative Council. The governor ceased to be the ex-officio President of the Council in 1949, while the first African unofficial member, Emmanuel Quist (later Sir Emmanuel), was appointed President.

The 1949 Constitution was thought to be the most advanced constitution in tropical Africa. Still, the governor retained the powers of veto. He could refuse to give his assent to any bill by the unofficial majority.

Sir Emmanuel Quist, the first unofficial African member, was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly under the 1951 Constitution. Under the same constitution the first election involving political parties to a Legislative Assembly took place and 75 members were elected. There were also nine appointed members, three of whom were ex-officio, with six representing mining and commercial interests.

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) won the majority of seats and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was appointed leader of government business. The CPP again won majority of seats in the 1954 and 1956 elections. The 1954 transitional Constitution provided for an assembly of a Speaker and 104 members elected along party lines on the basis of universal adult suffrage.

On the eve of the Independence Day the colonial legislature held its last sitting at 11 o’clock that evening. The Prime Minister, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, made the following statement:

“Mr. Speaker, we have assembled on this happy occasion to honour the new status of a nation. When the day dawns we shall have left behind us the chains of imperialism and colonialism, which have hitherto bound us to Britain. By twelve o’clock midnight Ghana will have redeemed her last freedom”.

The Deputy Leader of the opposition, S.D. Dambo, associated himself with the Prime Minister’s words conveying thanks to “Britain and other countries for helping Ghana to achieve independence”.

The Parliament of the Gold Coast was prorogued at 1.45 in the evening of March 5, 1957. The Prime Minister moved a motion thanking the Queen for her message to the House on attainment of Ghana’s independence.

The motion was seconded by the leader of the opposition, Prof. K.A. Busia.

In his speech he said: “That the birth of our country as an independent nation within the British Commonwealth may mean for us also a fresh dedication of our talents to the honest and devoted service of our country and generations”. The motion was agreed to.

ON March 6, 1957, Ghana attained full political independence. The Queen’s representative, the Duchess of Kent, opened the first session of Ghana’s Parliament.

The 1957 Independence Constitution was fashioned after the Westminster model (Prime Minister as Head of Government, with the Queen of England as Head of State). Under the Transitional Provisions of the 1957 Order in Council (Constitution), the members and the Speaker of the National Assembly of 1956 were deemed duly elected. The independence Parliament comprised the Queen and the National Assembly. Six parties were represented:

Convention People’s Party (CPP)                     -           72
                Northern People’s Party (NPP)                          -           14
                National Liberation Movement (NLM)               -           13
                Togoland Congress Party (TCP)                       -           2
                Federation of Youth Oragnisation (FYO)          -           1
                Moslem Association Party (MAP)                       -           1
                Independent Member                                           -           1

There were no women.

ON July 1, 1960, Ghana became a Republic under the Independent Constitution of 1957 with a five-year term. The parties represented were:

Convention People’s Party (CPP)
                United Party (UP)

In February 1964, the Republican Constitution was amended making the CPP the National Party. The National Assembly was therefore dissolved in 1965 making Ghana a one-party state. In the ensuing elections, the 198 candidates were returned unopposed.

The MPs need not represent the constituencies they hail from.

PARLIAMENTARY democracy was interrupted when the First Republican Government was overthrown in a coup d’etat on February 24, 1966. Parliamentary democracy was restored when the ruling junta handed over power to another constitutionally elected government in 1969.

A National Assembly was constituted consisting of 140 members elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage. Under the 1969 Constitution the prime Minister and his Ministers were Members of Parliament. The parties represented in the National Assembly were:

Progress Party (PP)                                          -           105
                National Alliance of Liberals (NAL)                -           29
                United Nationalist Party (UNP)                       -           2
                United Action Party (UAP)                                 -           2
                All people’s Republican Party (APRP)           -           1
                Independent Member                                        -           1 

The Second Republican Government was also overthrown in a coup d’etat on January 13, 1972, after only 27 months in office. Since then Parliament was in abeyance until September 24, 1979 when parliamentary democracy was again restored.

Under the 1979 Constitution, the President, Vice-President and Ministers of State were not Members of Parliament. Ghana shifted from the Westminster system of government. Parliament no longer consisted of the President and the Legislature. In fact, the word “Parliament” for the first time referred to only the Legislature. Parliament had 140 seats and a statutory life of five years. The parties represented were:

People’s National Party (PNP)             -           71
                Popular Front Party (PFP)                      -           42
                United National Convention (UNC)     -           13
                Action Congress Party (ACP)                -           10     
                Social Democratic Front (SDF)            -            3
                Independent Member                            -            1

There were five women Members of Parliament.

On December 31, 1981, parliamentary democracy was again interrupted by another coup d’etat.

THE country returned to constitutional rule following the promulgation of the 1992 Constitution in April 1992 – the Fourth Republican Constitution. The First Parliament of the Fourth Republic with 200 members and a four-year term was inaugurated on January 7, 1993. Parties represented were:

National Democratic Congress (NDC)             -           189
                National Convention Party (NCP)                       -               8
                Eagle Party (EP)                                                     -               1
                Independent Members                                         -               2

The main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) boycotted the Parliamentary election because they alleged that the presidential election held earlier was won by the NDC through irregularities.

The Fourth Republic has been stable as it has traveled 14 years, spanning three Parliaments, unlike the Parliaments of the previous republics.

Comparative features of Parliament under the four republics

THE main features common to all the Parliaments under the four republican constitutions since independence are as follows:           

            The Speaker’s Office
            The Clerk’s Office 

Government/Majority and Opposite/Minority Parties in Parliament (except for the establishment of a one-party state in 1964 and the abolition of opposition parties by law)           

Regulation of proceedings by Standing Orders Committee Systems.

Under the First Republican Constitution, Ministers of State had to be appointed from among MPs and had to present bills and other matters that fell within their portfolios to Parliament. The president in accordance with the constitution attended Parliament to deliver his Sessional Address to Parliament in which he presented the policies and programmes that the government intended to pursue during its session.

The President had the function of placing final seal on bills to make them law. Under the pre-Republican (1957) and the Second Republican (1966) constitutions, the Prime Minister and all Ministers of State appointed by the president had to be Members of Parliament.

Under the Third Republican Constitution (1979), the Executive President appointed his Ministers exclusively outside the membership of Parliament but with the prior approval of Parliament.

The Fourth Republican Constitution (1992) provided a hybrid system of government – the parliamentary and presidential system in which the executive president has majority of his Ministers appointed from within Parliament. Ministers appointed from outside Parliament can participate in the debate in the House but cannot vote.

The Committee System was also common to the Second, Third and Fourth Republican Parliaments. The various constitutions required the appointment of various committees from among MPs to enquire into activities and administrations of such Ministries or Departments as were assigned to them.

An important function of the committees was to examine in detail bills that were referred to them and proposed amendments to them where necessary. The committees of the Parliament of the First Republic in particular were classified into Sessional Select Committees and Ad Hoc Committees.

The Sessional Select Committees were appointed at the beginning of each session for the duration of that session. The Sessional select Committees could make recommendations for adoption by the House. Decision could only be taken when so empowered by the House.

Ad Hoc Committees were appointed as and when the need arose.

There were five Sessional Select Committees: The House Committee whose duties included advising the Speaker on all matters connected with the comfort and convenience of members; the Committee of Privileges which had the responsibility of enquiring into complaints of contempt of Parliament and matters of privilege referred to it; the Public Accounts Committee which had the duty of examining the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted by Parliament to meet public expenditure and such other accounts laid before it together with the Auditor-General’s Reports on the accounts.

The committee was required to submit its reports to the House at least twice in a session. A senior opposition member usually chaired the committee. The committee basically served as a financial watchdog.

Others were the Business Committee, which determined the business of each sitting, and the order in which it was to be taken, and the Standing Orders Committee, which considered proposals for the amendment of the Standing Orders from time to time. During this period there were no specific committees to examine bills and report to the House. There was also the committee of the whole House, which was usually chaired by the First Deputy Speaker.

The survival of the Fourth Republic is clear evidence of Ghana‘s passionate commitment to multi-party Parliamentary democracy.

Sources:          The Evolution of the Parliament in Ghana by K.B. Ayensu and S.N. Darkwa, The 1968 Constitutional Proposals for the 2^nd Republic Constitution.

Daily Graphic   -        Wednesday, February 21, 2007                  Pages:  15 & 16