Consolidating Democracy: Ghana's Path Since 1992

On April 28, 1992, Ghanaians overwhelmingly approved a new constitution by referendum, with 92.6 percent voting yes on a turnout of 43.7 percent. The document, drafted by a 260-member Consultative Assembly drawing from nine-member Committee of Experts appointed by the PNDC, established a hybrid presidential system modelled on elements of both the American and French constitutions. Article 43 guaranteed the independence of the Electoral Commission, while Chapter 12 enshrined fundamental human rights that had been absent during eleven years of military rule.

Jerry John Rawlings, the flight lieutenant who had twice seized power by force (June 4, 1979 and December 31, 1981), now sought democratic legitimacy. He founded the National Democratic Congress on June 10, 1992, recruiting PNDC associates including P.V. Obeng, Obed Asamoah, and Huudu Yahaya. The November 3 presidential election pitted Rawlings against Professor Albert Adu Boahen of the New Patriotic Party, a University of Ghana historian whose 1988 J.B. Danquah Memorial Lectures had broken the 'culture of silence' by publicly criticising the PNDC. Rawlings won with 58.4 percent to Boahen's 30.4 percent.

The opposition cried foul. The NPP, People's National Convention (PNC), and three smaller parties boycotted the December 29 parliamentary elections, handing the NDC 189 of 200 seats virtually uncontested. International observers, including the Commonwealth team led by Lord Bledisloe, judged the presidential poll broadly free but noted significant irregularities in voter registration. The Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), established in 1994 under EC Chairman Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, became the critical forum for building multiparty trust before subsequent elections. Rawlings won re-election in 1996 with 57.2 percent against John Kufuor, but this time all parties contested the parliamentary race, signalling growing confidence in the electoral system.