African Journal of Social Sciences Education

Three Decades of Electoral Reforms Under Ghana’s Fourth Republic: Improving the Quality of Elections from 1992 – 2022

Mathew Lobnibe Arah — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper seeks to explain Ghana’s success story regarding the quality of her general elections from the perspective of electoral reforms put in place by the stakeholders that matter. From a flawed start in November 1992 presidential elections which led to the opposition boycotting the December parliamentary elections the same year, Ghana now prides itself in seven (7) successful, peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections. Relying heavily on published materials and elites interviews from officials of the Electoral Commission (EC), top party executives from the two main political parties in Ghana: the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), this paper argues that though Ghana started very badly in 1992, she has been able to improve tremendously upon the quality of subsequent elections in general, but in particular, the organisation of each election is always an improvement upon the previous one. All these became possible due to numerous electoral reforms, such as the transformation of the Interim Nation Electoral Commission (INEC) into a permanent and independent EC, replacing thumb-printed voter ID cards with photo IDs, the replacement of opaque ballot boxes with transparent ones, the introduction of Biometric Verification Machines, the creation of sixteen (16) regional collation centres to replace the two hundred and seventy-five (275) and many others. The paper concludes that, though Ghana has done so well regarding elections, especially compared with her neighbours within the ECOWAS sub-region, she cannot claim to have arrived because sporadic electoral violence, abuse of incumbency, and vote buying persist. Their presence does not only threaten the electoral process but also disempower the individual citizens who are the principal actors in the democratic process for whom these elections are conducted.

Armed Politics, Small Arms Control and Electoral Violence in Nigeria

Kialee Nyiayaana — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The article interrogates the impact of armed politics on small arms control and electoral violence in Nigeria. It conceptualises armed politics as a form of political and electoral competition where the deployment of violence and coercion is decisive in securing electoral victory. Based on secondary data collected through books, reports, journal and newspaper articles and interpreted using both thematic and content analysis, the argument is that Nigeria’s electoral democracy may aptly be described as characterised by armed politics since the process of political leadership emergence is mainly through the bullets and guns rather than the ballot. The paper makes three claims regarding how the logic of armed politics affects small-arms governance, control and political legitimacy. Firstly, the legitimacy of the electoral and democratic process is contested, and people’s influence on the actions of emergent political leaders is weak, resulting in continued dependence on armed actors for support and victory in elections. Secondly, political accountability to the people on the part of the ruling elites, including accountability in issues of small arms control, is generally weak and lacking. Lastly, emerging through bullets and guns adds further twists to the democratic process of controlling weapons in post-electoral victory and leadership with implications for the proliferation of small arms in Nigeria.

POLITICIANS’ REACTIONS TO ELECTION RESULTS IN GHANA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC: A MODEL TO DEMOCRATIC ACQUIESCENCE?

Samuel Pimpong, Felix Tei — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Ghana has witnessed three decades of uninterrupted democratic governance since 1993. This feat has been marked by eight (8) successive multiparty elections, laced with three peaceful alternations of political power. Despite this milestone achievement, some practices have almost marred a peaceful transition of power. For instance, central to the alternation of power is the acceptance of electoral defeat by the losing candidate. However, presidential election results since 1992 have been greeted with mixed reactions by defeated presidential candidates. Effects of three out of the eight successful presidential elections (i.e., 1992, 2012, and 2020) have been outrightly rejected, protested, failed to concede defeat, and petitioned by defeated candidates. Against this background, this paper sought to explore the actions and inactions of defeated political parties, their losing presidential candidates and their impact on democratic consolidation in Ghana. The paper adopts the qualitative approach and gleaned data via interviews with Political Science and Electoral Politics experts, leaders of political parties and policymakers, and analysis of extant literature. The paper argues that perceived rigging, mistrust in the election management body, margin of defeat, and winner-takes-all politics imbibed in Ghana’s democratic governance linger and manifest defeated presidential candidates’ reluctance to concede defeat. Such tendencies predicate a rocky and bumpy road to Ghana’s democratic consolidation.

POLITICAL SONGS AND ELECTIONS IN GHANA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC, 1992 – 2020

Samuel Bewiadzi Akakpo — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Fourth Republic marked the return of multi-party democracy in Ghana. Since 1992, multi-party elections have consolidated Ghana’s democratic credentials within the global political landscape. Interestingly, the successes of these elections have described Ghana as a beacon of democracy in Africa. These success stories emanated from diverse factors such as available written constitution, independent Electoral Commission, citizenship participation, political party activism, finance, and rigorous campaign strategies. However, one major factor that has contributed tremendously to the success of Ghana’s elections is the role of political songs. Songs have played quintessential roles in sustaining and consolidating Ghana’s democracy. Since 1992, musicians have composed songs to support various political parties, which have been used extensively as campaign tools in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. Using the qualitative approach, this study investigates the relevance of political songs in sustaining Ghana’s elections. The study finds that since 1992, several political songs have been composed to support the efforts of election campaigns in Ghana, with the years 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 witnessing the peak of these political songs. The study also finds that political songs have played crucial roles in sustaining Ghana’s elections in political education, criticising aspirants, canvassing for votes, expressing issues of party achievements, and promoting peace and unity, among others. The study concludes that political songs have taken centre stage in the three decades of democratic practice in Ghana’s Fourth Republic.

Small-Scale Mining, Environment and Livelihoods: Perspectives from Mining Communities in Ghana

Gabriel Botchwey, Ortis Yankey — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The environment and livelihoods have come under severe strain in mineral-rich areas with the emergence of mechanised small-scale mining equipment, which generates more than five-fold increase in gold production. This article discusses the impact of mechanised small-scale mining on the environment and livelihoods of peasant farmers within broader climate change processes in Ghana. Methods used include community-level qualitative interviews, field observations, analysis of satellite imagery spanning the period 1987-2016, and published data on climate change processes affecting Ghana. The findings show water loss of more than seventy per cent, severely degraded lands and forests, with detrimental effects on livelihoods in the areas studied. Though the study did not find direct evidence of the impact of climate change processes on the environment, corroborative reports from research indicate about 1.6% rise in temperature across Ghana from 1960 to 2020, combined with extreme weather events such as torrential rains, excessive flooding and intensified evaporation from lands exposed through small-scale mining; these are very likely to have more adverse effects on the environment. The article concludes that the consequences of mechanised mining on the environment have been very detrimental in the face of domestic legislation and well-established environmental protection conventions and principles. The paper recommends a return to the observance of sound ecological principles and ideals by the State, and respect for the country’s legislation, to ensure sustainable livelihoods for people living in mineral-rich areas.