Ghana is praised for making steady democratic progress since 1994. However, a new perspective by Kaderi Noagah Bukari and published in The Conversation argues that the country’s democracy is showing cracks. Here is an excerpt:

The sight of soldiers in Ghana’s parliament on January 7, 2021 was a first for the country. What brought the institution to this point – now the subject of an inquiry – was a scuffle between parliamentarians from the governing party and the opposition, over the election of a Speaker and two deputies. In the end, an opposition candidate was – for the first time – elected as Speaker.

I have studied several conflict and resolution situations in Ghana. And in my view, what happened in parliament was a perfect example of the shortcomings of the existing system of democracy in the country.

Ghana’s democracy takes the western majoritarian form, in which the majority side is “always right”. It gives governments a freer hand to enact the policies on which they campaigned. But critics say it distorts outcomes by favouring strong parties and under-representing weaker ones.

Read the full article through this link.