By Nick Opoku
It is an honour to be invited by the Headquarters of the Southern Command of the Ghana Army to this seminar on the theme ‘Military and Democracy’; and to speak specifically on the topic: ‘The role of Civil Society Organisations in a Democracy’.
With
the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections just about 4 months away,
this topic is more critical than ever.
To
provide some historical context, explore the philosophical basis of the work of
civil society organisations, and perhaps most importantly, to give my intervention
today, some sense of structure, I believe it will be useful, if I divide my
speech into 3 sub-topics:
(i)
How far we have come as a nation with the
practice of the democracy in the 4th Republic;
(ii)
governmental accountability and the need
for open government; and
(iii)
the role of civil society organizations in
a democracy like Ghana.
This
way of looking at the issue, is particularly useful to gaining, what I believe
is a 360 degrees perspective of the issue. My objective for doing so is also to
ensure that at the end of this discussion, we will all walk away with not only
a broader but also a more complete understanding of the work civil society
organisations and how crucial their work is to sustaining democracy in Ghana.
(i)
How far we have come as a nation with
the practice of the democratic system of government in the 4th
Republic
On January 7, 1993, the Fourth Republic began against the background of 11 years of what some describe as ‘quasi-military authoritarian rule’; disputes over the outcome of the transition presidential polls, and the boycott of the ensuing parliamentary elections. That election in 1992 was initially dismissed by many. And with some justification. Some even called it ‘transition without change’. What is interesting however, is that, despite its obvious imperfections and birth defects, the transition to multiparty democracy, with the adoption of the 1992 Constitution and the inauguration of the new democratically-elected government in January 1993 has ushered Ghana into the longest period of democratic governance.[1] The 4th Republic is curiously Ghana’s oldest Republic, and to say that not many believed this would be possible is an understatement.
As many of you are
aware, since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, we have held seven (7) successive
multi-party elections; each on schedule. The vote casting and counting in all
these elections have been pronounced, to varying degrees, free, fair and
transparent by domestic and international election observers.[2] Three (3) of these
elections—elections 2000, 2008 and 2016—have produced alternations of power. Our
presidential term limit, established by the 1992 Constitution through Article 66 (1) and
(2), is respected and uncontested, unlike in some neighbouring African countries.[3] Two main political
parties—the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress
(NDC)—have become largely institutionalized.
The mechanisms of
checks and balances have played a powerful role in strengthening our democracy. The
judiciary —which is the enforcer-in-chief of our Constitution—is to some
extent, and depending on who you ask, more or less independent. Private
citizens can challenge the actions of the various arms of government and institutions
in court when they believe such actions are unlawful, and the courts have the
mandate to either validate them as lawful or invalidate them as unlawful. Beyond
the courts, Independent Constitutional Bodies (ICBs) such as that the Office of
the Auditor General, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
(CHRAJ), the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and the Electoral
Commission serve as checks on the exercise of executive power and protect citizens
and non-citizens alike against human rights abuses, amongst others. In addition,
despite a few cases of harassment, the freedom of the press has been largely
respected, enabling a vibrant media community to thrive and speak truth to
power.
It is therefore fair
to say that Ghana’s democracy has been legitimized since the beginning of the 4th
Republic. In other words ‘democracy is the only game in town today’, to borrow
the words of Prof E. Gyimah-Boadi, the former Executive Director of CDD-Ghana.
(ii) Governmental accountability and
the need for open government
Colleagues,
in a democracy, the relationship between the government and citizens is that of
a Principal-Agent relationship. The
Principal (citizens: people like you and I) exercise their franchise to elect
representatives who form a government. The elected officials also appoint other
members of government. The Agents (the Government) enter office with the
mandate to implement policies and programs for the welfare of citizens (the
principal). In short, in a democracy the principal-agent transaction begins with
an election. The framers of our Constitution recognize this principal-agent
relationship. That is why Article 35 (1) of the Constitution provides that:
‘Ghana
shall be a democratic State dedicated to the realization of freedom and
justice; and accordingly, sovereignty
resides in the people of Ghana from whom Government derives all its powers and
authority through this Constitution.’
In
order for the government (the agent) to uphold its obligations to the people (the
principal), it must be open, accountable and transparent.
This
is the only way for the principal
(citizens) to ensure that the agent (the government) is pursuing the mandate
for which they were voted in office. That is, to act for the benefit of the
principal (citizens)—and not the other way round.
The Directive Principles of State Policy, which spell out ‘in broad strokes the spirit or conscience of the constitution’, to borrow the words of the Committee of Experts in their Proposals for a Draft Constitution of Ghana, are clear.
‘The
State shall take all necessary action
to ensure that the national economy is managed in such a manner as to maximize the rate of economic
development and to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every person in Ghana and to
provide adequate means of livelihood and suitable employment and public
assistance to the needy.’
The job of the Principal (government) is therefore well cut out for them.
However, we should note that it is in the spirit of
holding government to account—the very idea of open government—that we say in
the preamble of our Constitution that ‘IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD…We the
people of Ghana…. AND IN SOLEMN declaration and
affirmation of our commitment to Freedom, Justice, PROBITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY;’
It is no surprise the Directive Principles of State Policy which enjoin government to take all the necessary action to maximize the welfare of citizens also dictate in Article 36 (5) that‘…within two years after assuming office, the President shall present to Parliament a coordinated programme of economic and social development policies, including agricultural and industrial programmes at all levels and in all the regions of Ghana.’
Article 67 of the Constitution also provides that ‘The President shall, at (i) the beginning of each session of Parliament and (ii) before a dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament a message on the state of the nation.’
The very idea of ensuring that the executive give an account of their deeds to the people (the principal), is why we have these provisions in our Constitution.
In addition to the role of Parliament in holding government to account, the Constitution is also clear on the role of the media in Article 162.
Beyond parliament, the media, and other agencies whose responsibility it is to ensure horizontal accountability like the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Office of the Auditor General, amongst others, citizens also have a role to play because governmental accountability needs an Active Citizen.
Amongst
the key duties of a citizen, according Article 41 of the Constitution, are: (i)
to uphold and defend this Constitution and the law [therefore when you and I as
citizens find any law or action of an institution which we deem to be unlawful,
we have a responsibility to go to court to have the said law or action
invalidated by the courts]; (ii) to protect and preserve public property and
expose and combat misuse and waste of public funds and property [therefore we
have a duty to prevent and fight corruption and the waste of public resources];
(iii) to co-operate with lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order;
(iv) to declare income honestly to the appropriate and lawful agencies and to
satisfy all tax obligations; etc.
Colleagues, these are some of the key duties of an active citizen. But how many citizens of Ghana are actively performing their roles?
For the purposes of this topic, let’s look at the data on political and civic engagement for example. According to Afrobarometer Round 8 survey conducted in Ghana between September and October 2019,
(ii) On the question of who has attended a community meeting in the last year, almost half of Ghanaians responded ‘no’.
(iii) When it comes participating in a demonstration or marches over the past year, the answers are similarly sobering: 64% of Ghanaians responded that they would ‘never’ do so.
This data shows that many citizens fail to actively engage or monitor the performance of government in order to hold them to account. This is why civil society organisations (CSOs) are critical—DEMOCRACY IS NOT FOR A LAZY SOCIETY and CSOs help fill this void by holding the powerful and our government to account.
Civil
society organizations may have emerged in the 1800s when there was an attempt
to challenge and hold to account the colonial administration. We had groups
like the Gold Coast Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS) that protested against the Lands Bill of 1897 which sought to allow
the colonial government to take over public lands. We also had the National Congress of British
West Africa (NCBWA) largely
composed of the educated elite in the Gold
Coast, which amongst others, protested against the incorporation of 'traditional
authorities' in the colonial system.
This shows that the idea of citizens
mobilising to promote one cause or the other is nothing new. Many of you
gathered here today, belong to old school associations, home-town associations,
etc. These are all forms of civil society organisations which exist to promote
key issues.
In addition to those groups, we have groups that
(i)
organise around public service delivery.
These groups are usually community-based and provide direct services such as
portable water, good sanitation, amongst others, for the benefit of communities
across the country. An example is the Coalition
of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), which work from various locations
across the country to promote the water and sanitation sector.
(ii)
There are also those that organise around
interests and are often member based. For example, Trades Union Congress (TUC)
which is the mouthpiece of unionized labour in
its dealing with government and with the employers association; the
Ghana Medical Association (GMA) which represents
the interests of physicians, surgeons
and dentists working throughout Ghana; the University Teachers
Association (UTAG) which represents the interests of university teachers
throughout the country; the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) which
represents the interest of all students across the country, amongst many others.
(iii)
Then there are those that organise around
ideas and work to promote particular causes. These organisations mobilise for
reform and help shape public opinion. In a highly partisan society like Ghana,
these organisations are a voice of moderation and reason, and usually bring
balance to discussions on critical national issues by looking at such issues
more dispassionately. This group of CSOs also scrutinise bills put before
parliament, and major public agreements; for example, the Defence Cooperation
Agreement between Ghana and the US ratified by Parliament in 2018. On matters of economic policy/development, we
have organisations such as the African Centre for Economic Transformation
(ACET), the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), etc. On democracy and good
governance, there are organisations such as the Ghana Center for Democratic
Development (CDD-Ghana), Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), etc. On
energy policy, we have organisations such as the Africa Center for Energy Policy
(ACEP). On matters related to strengthening the work of parliament, we have
organisations such as Odekro, the Parliamentary Network for Africa, amongst
many other organisations. As the CSO space matures, we can expect to have CSOs
which will begin to focus on and scrutinise security services. Please note that
when they do this, they do so not to undermine your work as security agencies.
Ladies
and gentlemen, this last group of civil society organisations (CSOs) exists to
monitor and evaluate government performance and service delivery and hold
government to account. That is the crucial
role they play in a democracy like Ghana.
How do they do that?
One,
in terms of monitoring and evaluation
for instance, CDD-Ghana, uses tools/projects such as:
a.
‘I’m Aware’: I’m Aware provides Ghanaians with free simple user-friendly
data on the state of public service delivery in seven (7) areas: education,
health, sanitation, water, security, roads, and agriculture across all regions
of Ghana. The objective of the ‘I’m Aware’
project is to strengthen the demand for accountability and responsiveness in
Ghana by improving citizen awareness and engagement with duty bearers about
public service delivery issues in their communities.
b.
District League Table (DLT): the District League Table is a simple ranking tool, which measures the
level of development in all 216 districts across Ghana. It ranks all the
districts based on six (6) key sectors – health, education, sanitation, water,
security and governance. These indicators are aggregated into a single index,
and districts are ranked from 1st down to 216th place in terms of level of
development. The objective of the District League Table is to increase social
accountability in Ghana for improved development. It does this by opening up space
for dialogue between the State and citizens through the provision and tracking
of essential information on well-being at the district level. It also seeks to
help the government of Ghana to better understand the unique development needs
of each district.
c.
Corruption Watch: Corruption Watch, as the name suggests, is an anti-corruption campaign. It seeks to promote
integrity in public life by demanding and activating the responsiveness and
accountability of all actors in the anti-corruption space to ensure corruption
cases are investigated, suspects are prosecuted in accordance with law and
stolen funds are recovered by the State. The goal is to make corruption risky
and unattractive by closing opportunities which encourage corruption in Ghana,
by sustaining citizen and media spotlight on corruption cases from exposure of
corrupt cases and officials, to closure of the cases.
d.
Afrobarometer: Afrobarometer is a non-partisan survey research project that conducts public attitude
surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, civil society and other
topics in more than 30 countries across all regions in Africa. The goal is
to give the public a voice in policymaking by providing high-quality public
opinion data to policymakers, policy advocates, civil society organizations,
academics, news media, donors and investors and everyday Africans.
Two, in terms of Research and Analysis of
government projects, the objective of our work is help to identify challenges
affecting the implementation of public policies and provide responses to
overcome them based on lessons learned from previous successes and failures on
similar policy areas. CDD-Ghana uses tools such as the Manifesto
Project. The objective of the
Manifesto Project is to
inform and influence national agenda-setting and policy for inclusive
development by gathering and synthesising data and evidence from diverse
sources and feeding these as inputs for political parties in the development of
their manifestos ahead of the 2020 elections. The Manifesto project identifies and highlights critical problem areas,
challenges and gaps in specific sectors and thematic areas which militate
against national development and progress and thus demand appropriate policy or
other remedial intervention from political decision-makers. The final
document, which was launched recently, is available for free
download on CDD-Ghana’s website.
CDD-Ghana also undertakes training, capacity
building and empowerment of
other citizens to participate in governance and hold
government to account.
To inform and educate citizens, we also make
ourselves available for discussions in the media, public forums; publications
such as the Democracy Watch
newsletter, and the use of various social media platforms,
etc.
Conclusion
In
conclusion, I would like to briefly talk about the role of CSOs and the
Media and in elections and how these two organisations interface with security
agencies like the military.
It
is important to emphasise that CSOs and the media aim to hold constitutionally
elected government(s) to account, and not to undermine government. It is the
constitutional mandate of CSOs and the media to do so.
In
terms of elections:
1. CSOs
and media organisations carry out programmes to educate voters on electoral
processes, and to highlight the key concerns of citizens in order to draw the
attention of policy makers. These organisations also carry out election
observation activities to ensure that electoral processes are free and fair.
CSOs in particular also carry out activities aimed at peace mediation. Eg.
National Peace Council.
2. CSOs
and media organisations also work with security agencies (whose constitutional
mandate it is to ensure the maintenance of law and order) to track and respond
to threats of violence.
So
my dear friends, when you see media professionals and members of CSOs out there
during elections, these are the tasks they perform. So please treat them as your friends, and do not slap them! (Laugh)
Thank you very much for your
attention!!!
Editor’s
note: This paper was originally delivered as a speech by Nick Opoku (Legal and
Governance Policy Analyst, CDD-Ghana), at a seminar on ‘Military and Democracy’,
organised by the Headquarters of the Southern Command of the Ghana Army, Accra,
on Friday, August 7, 2020.
[1] E. Gyimah-Boadi, ‘Making
Democracy Work for the People:
Reflections on Ghana’s 25-year journey towards democratic development’, CDD-Ghana ‘Kronti ne Akwamu’ lecture,
August 30, 2018
[2] H. Kwasi Prempeh, ‘Toward Judicial Independence and
Accountability in an Emerging Democracy: the Courts and the Consolidation of
Democracy in Ghana’, February 1997.
[3] E. Gyimah-Boadi, ‘Making Democracy Work for the
People: Reflections on Ghana’s 25-year journey towards democratic development’, CDD-Ghana ‘Kronti ne Akwamu’ lecture, August 30, 2018
