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| Title: | Chiefs and electoral politics in Ghana's Fourth Republic |
| Author: | Gyampo, Ransford E. |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Periodical: | Humanities Review Journal (ISSN 1596-0749) |
| Volume: | 8 |
| Pages: | 10-26 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Ghana |
| Subjects: | chieftaincy politics elections |
| Abstract: | With the advent of a modern democratic dispensation in Ghana many of the roles previously played by the chiefs were taken over by the State, leaving the chiefs with virtually no political role in national governance. The Fourth Republic's Constitution of 1992 explicitly bans chiefs from active partisan politics. This paper examines the fairness of this constitutional injunction and the actual role played by chiefs in Ghana's electoral politics on the basis of interviews with 50 Ghanaian MPs and some two hundred respondents from the general public. There is evidence to support the assertion that chiefs have abandoned the spirit of the constitutional injunction that bars them from partisan politics. This could either be the result of political pressure from politicians or a deliberate attempt on the part of the chiefs to assert their influence in politics. Five general elections have been held since the inception of the Fourth Republic. In all elections, chiefs played a key role in influencing the outcomes, directly or indirectly. Since the integrity of chiefs ought to be protected, the article recommends the creation of a second chamber of parliament, whose membership should include chiefs elected by the Regional House of Chiefs. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract] |