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Patterns of human rights violations in Ghana (1957-1993) (Source: Report of the National Reconciliation Commission, October 2004)
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... may also have been that victims of some of the oldest governments in the country were no more available to testify against those regimes as a result of loss of lives or memory lapses. 38 Despite the reasons that influenced human rights violations under these two regimes, the Commission finds (and as indicated in Figure 1) that majority of violations occurred under the PNDC. It started rising from 1981 when the regime came to power and reached its peak in 1982 when it struggled to consolidate its grips to power in the face of threats to its rule. ...
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Citations
... Elections have featured prominently in studies on democratization in Ghana. In relation to democratic consolidation, a minimalist and maximalist debate is imperative (Alidu & Ame, 2012). Reference is often made to the transition election of 1992 after 11 years of military rule between December 31st, 1981 and January 7th, 1993. ...
Ghana's democratic progress in the Fourth Republic is often linked to the management of peaceful elections, successful political alternations, and some public trust in democratic institutions. However, pockets of violence have also marred and derailed some progress. While the capacity to reduce political tensions and resolve electoral disputes has gained significant scholarly attention, scholars still overlook the role of infrastructure for peace (I4P) in the analysis. Focusing on the Ghanaian National Peace Council, this qualitative study examines the extent to which I4P prevents electoral disputes, what its strengths and challenges are, and how the ongoing challenges might be remedied. Findings on peace accords, election observation, and policy dialogue processes were significant before, during, and after electoral manifestations. A formalized I4P was also productive through institutional partnerships. However, institutionalization within governmental structures and its consequential budgetary limitations necessitate prudent management of its peace fund to facilitate emergent conflict situations.
... The importance of civil society as a concept for explaining political developments in Africa cannot be overstated. It played a crucial role in Africa's struggle for independence (Alidu and Ame 2012;Coleman 1954;Harbeson 1994;Hodgkin 1956). It has been described as the "main analytic paradigm" (Ikelegbe 2001, 2) and the "most powerful force upon the scene" (Young 1994, 48). ...
After years of military rule, Ghana returned to democratic governance in January 1993. Since then, it has consolidated its democracy, evidenced by seven successive general elections, three alternations of power, and institutional actors using the rules of the game to pressure elected officials to influence policy development and implementation. This article examines the passage of massive state expansion of welfare legislation in 2003, the National Health Insurance Law (Act 650). I argue that not only was healthcare reform a salient issue in the 2000 general elections, the new law was the result of civil society and citizen pressure on the governing New Patriotic Party to fulfill its campaign promise to overhaul the country's healthcare system. This article contributes to the literature on the welfare state from the developing world, which mostly focuses on Latin America and Asia.
... Ameh classifies these two regimes, both led by Jerry John Rawlings, as being " the most violent political regimes in Ghana " s political history " (2006a: 347). Ghanaian political scientist Kwame Boafo-Arthur also describes the PNDC regime as " a decentralised structure of tyranny and violence " (2005: 104; see also Oduro, 2005; Alidu and Ameh, 2012). As the NRC hearings disclosed, these regimes were characterised by killings and detentions without trial, sexual assaults, torture, trials without due process, disappearances, arbitrary confiscation of property, illegal dismissals, and a wide range of human rights violations (Ameh, 2006a: 347). ...
... As noted above, the NDC is the civilian successor to the authoritarian AFRC and the PNDC. It therefore had a lot of political capital to lose if the human rights abuses perpetrated under those regimes were brought to the fore (Alidu and Ameh, 2012). Outside Parliament and in Ghana " s vibrant mass mediasphere (this was before the proliferation of social media), the public engaged in a vigorous debate over the necessity of a TRC, and if so, the historical period to be covered by its mandate. ...
... 14 This is because as stated above, the NDC has been ideologically opposed to the NRC. It views the NRC as disproportionately targeting the party " s ideological origins 15 (Alidu and Ameh, 2012). That being said, continuing with the NRC agenda will be a politically wise choice for the NDC as it will promote true reconciliation with people who might be hostile to the party because they (or loved ones) suffered under its predecessor military regimes. ...
Truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) as transitional justice and conflict resolution mechanisms, have gained international prominence, especially following South Africa’s much publicised TRC experience. Among other things, TRCs are expected to contribute to democratic consolidation by correcting the historical narrative, acknowledging past human rights violations and fostering a human rights culture in nascent democracies. This was the spirit in which Ghana’s National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) executed its mandate from 2002 to 2004. However, a decade after the commission issued its final report, this article reflects on the failure of the Ghanaian state to disseminate the report. It is argued that the failure to disseminate the NRC Report could jeopardise the commission’s potential contributions to sustainable reconciliation, human rights and democracy in Ghana. This article accounts for the failure to disseminate the report, and makes corrective recommendations as well as suggestions for future research.
... The trend has been like this over the years. Whether it was Daniel Arap Moi (former Kenyan President, 1978), Jerry Rawlings (former Ghanaian President, 1966-1968 or Yoweri Museveni, current Ugandan President (1986-) -all their regimes had to demonstrate to the IMF, WB and some western donors that they had the ability to push through anti-democratic, anti-labor and other anti-people policies (Boafo-Arthur, 1999:17 in Alidu andAme, 2012). For example, while critics accuse Paul Kagame, the Rwandan President of being authoritarian and trampling on political freedoms" he (Kagame) has continued to earn international praise for rebuilding the country after the 1994 genocide and both the IFIs as well as many foreign governments continued to applaud Rwanda's development successes (Clover et al., 2013:1). ...
‘Classical’ public administration theories, principles and paradigms continually fascinate scholars given their relevance to government practices especially in Africa. As used here, ‘public administration’ (in lower case) denotes government activities whereas ‘Public Administration’, often associated with Woodrow Wilson’s renowned 1887 essay, refers to the subject matter. However, New Public Management (NPM) dominated Public Administration from the 1970s-1990s when it was replaced by ‘Governance’. This article examines Public Administration theory, practice and related paradigms and how the centuries-old subject developed from their introduction, interpretation and application in the public sector during each era. It will conclude that these developments have had mixed consequences for Africa, on which the article focuses, owing largely to the effect of colonialism on the continent’s public administration. Using the selected examples of African countries’ experiences, this article relies on a qualitative and literature analysis of the issues discussed. Africa, like other ‘Third World’ or developing regions, is largely perceived as a consumer of the mostly western-dominated or inclined Public Administration, New Public Management and governance models which it inherited primarily through colonialism.
... Research findings from CSOs are important evidence which could be used to influence government policies and decisions. Therefore, to the extent that such an important finding is kept secret from Ghanaians and allegedly removed from the website of the IEA when reported by the Ghana News Agency goes a long way to indicate the unwillingness of some CSOs to commit themselves to influencing the policies of governments they support (Alidu and Ame, 2012) [24]. ...
Ethiopia has been struggling to achieve national reconciliation, conflict transformation, and peace-building since the 1974 revolution and regime changes in 1991 and 2018. Past Ethiopian governments have not given enough attention to reconciliation efforts, despite the urge for it and attempt to establish a reconciliation commission. The study in this article looks at the challenges facing national reconciliation, conflict transformation, social cohesion, and peace-building in contemporary Ethiopia. The researcher used interviews with key informants and qualitatively designed surveys with 165 randomly selected residents of Addis Ababa, Adama, and Mekelle cities. Analysis of documents, literature, research articles, and social media platforms helped to highlight various challenges, including historical context, political and constitutional issues, competing nationalisms, social factors, national identity conflicts, economic disparities, media influence, lack of civil society involvement, the spoiling role of the Ethiopian diaspora, and external pressures. The study recommends a strong political commitment and a comprehensive peace-building strategy involving all Ethiopian elites to achieve lasting political reconciliation, unity, and peace in the country through an elite based negotiated political settlement.
Processes of transitional justice can be informed by a multitude of goals, including the attainment of democracy. In societies where there is an already existing democratic dispensation, the goal of democracy relates to strengthening democratic values and instilling trust in the government. Ghana exemplifies the latter scenario, as the country had adopted democratic governance nearly 10 years before the establishment of a truth commission. This paper discusses the historical background against which Ghana’s main transitional justice mechanism, the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), was conceived and implemented, and examines the reasons for, and effects of, the decade-long delay in doing so. It then assesses the extent to which Ghana’s NRC has promoted democratic values through its work, and asserts that in conflicted democracies, the attainability of a more resilient democracy depends on whether transitional justice mechanisms are designed and operated with adherence to democratic norms and standards.
The enabling laws and key features of a truth commission provide a basis for understanding its work. Hence, the absence of a comprehensive legal framework and extensive powers can translate into significant restrictions on addressing gross human rights violations. In unearthing the unique features and limitations of Ghana’s National Reconciliation Commission, this chapter examines the legal foundations for its establishment. Starting from the laws that limited recourse to prosecutions, the chapter reflects on the challenges posed by the existence of a blanket amnesty under Ghana’s 1992 Constitution. The chapter identifies the absence of a transitional justice policy and the principle of legality as other factors that hindered prosecutions during the transitional process. Using normative and comparative approaches, the chapter discusses the key features of the National Reconciliation Commission, including the nature of its membership, operational time frame, level of independence, nature of its powers and mandate. The discussion highlights the commission’s massive legal powers, which make it almost akin to a court.
