Politics Of Ghana

Politics of Ghana takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Ghana is both head of state and head of government, and of a two party system. The seat of government is at Golden Jubilee House. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and Parliament of Ghana, Parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

The constitution that established the Fourth Republic provided a basic charter for republican democratic government. It declares Ghana to be a Unitary state, unitary republic with sovereignty residing in the Ghanaian people. Intended to prevent future coups, dictatorial government, and one-party states, it is designed to establish the concept of separation of powers, powersharing. The document reflects lessons learned from the abrogated constitutions of 1957, 1960,69, and 1979, and incorporates provisions and institutions drawn from British and United States, American constitutional models. One controversial provision of the Constitution indemnifies members and appointees of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) from liability for any official act or omission during the years of PNDC rule. The Constitution calls for a system of checks and balances, with power shared between a Heads of State of Ghana, president, a unicameral parliament, a Council of State (Ghana), council of state, and an independent judiciary.

Executive branch

, President of Ghana, President
, Nana Akufo-Addo
, New Patriotic Party
, 7 January 2017
, -
, Vice-President of Ghana, Vice-President
, Mahamudu Bawumia
, New Patriotic Party
, 7 January 2017

Nana Akufo-Addo is established in the Office of the Presidency, together with his Council of State (Ghana), 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 than half of the presidentially appointed ministers of state must be appointed from among members of Parliament.

The outcome of the December 2012 elections, in which John Dramani Mahama was declared President by the Ghana Electoral Commission, was challenged by Nana Akufo-Addo, Mahamudu Bawumia and Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey at the Supreme Court of Ghana, which came out with the verdict that Mahama legally won the 2012 presidential election

This precedent which was set by Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP party in 2012 was followed by John Dramani Mahama the then president, and now opposition leader and the NDC party when they petition the Highest Court of the Land to overturn the election victory of Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP party on the grounds that the victory was illegal.

Legislative branch

Legislative functions are vested in Parliament of Ghana, Parliament, which consists of a unicameral 275-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 are elected for a four-year term in single-seat constituency, constituencies by Plurality voting system, simple plurality vote. As it is predicted by Duverger's law, the voting system has encouraged Ghanaian politics into a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party. Elections have been held every four years since 1992. Presidential and parliamentary elections are held alongside each other, generally on 7 December.

Political parties and elections

Presidential elections

Parliamentary elections

History

Recent political developments

Nana Akufo-Addo, the ruling party candidate, was defeated in a very close election by John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (Ghana), National Democratic Congress (NDC) following the Ghanaian presidential election, 2008. Mills died of natural causes and was succeeded by vice-president John Dramani Mahama on 24 July 2012.

Following the Ghanaian presidential election, 2012, John Mahama, John Dramani Mahama became President-elect and was inaugurated on 7 January 2013. Ghana was a stable democracy.

As a result of the Ghanaian presidential election, 2016, Nana Akufo-Addo became President-elect and was inaugurated as the fifth President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana and eighth President of Ghana on 7 January 2017. In December 2020, President Nana Akufo-Addo was re-elected after a tightly contested 2020 Ghanaian general election, election.

Judicial branch

The structure and the power of the judiciary are independent of the two other branches of government. The Judiciary of Ghana is responsible for interpreting, applying and enforcing the laws of Ghana, and exist to settle legal conflicts fairly and in a more competent way. The Supreme Court of Ghana 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 courts have jurisdiction over all civil and criminal matters. They include the Superior Courts of Judicature, established under the 1992 Constitution, and the Inferior Courts, established by Parliament. The Superior Courts are, from highest to lowest, the Supreme Court of Ghana, the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice, and the ten Regional Tribunals. The Inferior Courts, since the Courts Act 2002, include the Circuit Courts, the Magistrate Courts, and special courts such as the Juvenile Courts.

In 2007, Georgina Theodora Wood, Georgina Wood became the first ever female chief justice of the Ghanaian Supreme Court.

Administrative divisions

Ghana is divided into sixteen regions: Ashanti Region, Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central Region (Ghana), Central, Eastern Region (Ghana), Eastern, Greater Accra, Northern Region (Ghana), Northern, Upper East Region (Ghana), Upper East, Upper West Region (Ghana), Upper West, Volta Region, Volta, Oti Region, Western North Region, North East Region (Ghana), North East Region, Ahafo Region, Savannah Region, Bono East Region and Western Region (Ghana), Western Region.

International organization participation

Ghana is member of ACP countries, ACP, African Development Bank, AfDB, African Union, AU, Commonwealth of Nations, C, Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, FAO, Group of 24, G-24, Group of 77, G-77, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD, International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, International Chamber of Commerce, ICC, International Criminal Court, ICCt, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, ICFTU, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, ICRM, International Development Association, IDA, International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, International Finance Corporation, IFC, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRCS, International Labour Organization, ILO, International Monetary Fund, IMF, International Maritime Organization, IMO, International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, International Olympic Committee, IOC, International Organization for Migration, IOM (observer), International Organization for Standardization, ISO, International Telecommunication Union, ITU, MIGA, United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, MONUC, Non-Aligned Movement, NAM, Organization of American States, OAS (observer), ONUB, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, United Nations, UN, UNAMSIL, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, UNESCO, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO, UNIFIL, United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UNITAR, UNMEE, United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNOCI, Universal Postal Union, UPU, World Confederation of Labour, WCL, World Federation of Trade Unions, WFTU, World Health Organization, WHO, World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, World Meteorological Organization, WMO, World Tourism Organization, WToO, World Trade Organization, WTrO.

See also

* Government of Ghana

References

External links

Global Integrity Report: Ghana
has information on Ghana's anti-corruption efforts*

Latest Political News From Ghana

{{EngvarB, date=January 2021

Politics of Ghana,