Economic and Social Injustices in Ghana’s Military Regimes: an Investigation of Price Control Policies.

Abstract

The discourse of human rights has been dominated by civil and political rights much to the detriment of economic, social and cultural rights. However, both categories of rights are inalienable. Using mainly secondary source of data including a content analysis of the report of the Ghana National Reconciliation Commission and transcripts of the testimonies of some victims who testified before the Commission; this paper finds that majority of human rights violations were committed by state security institutions against victims professionally described as “general occupation” and the wealthy and influential in society. This magnitude of the violations, perpetrated against these victims never received adequate policy response. Though the National Reconciliation Commission was established to address past human rights violations in Ghana, it failed to holistically examine, and also recommend adequate policy for victims of economic and social injustices. In conclusion, this paper recommends that human rights violations of economic and social nature deserve same concerns and response in transitional periods since the former provides the context within which the latter occur.