Indigenising Democracy? Renegotiating the Role of Indigenous Political Authorities in Ghana’s Constitution Review

Abstract

The Ghanaian Constitution Review Process represents an ambitious attempt to reshape Ghanaian democracy in the image of its ostensible sovereign. In an unprecedented consultation process Ghanaians across the country and the diaspora were asked to share their opinions on the 1992 constitution. Moving beyond the letter of the constitution which had ushered in the longest period of constitutional rule in the history of the country, the mandate of the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) expressly included the collation of submissions on legal and administrative changes Ghanaians might demand to ensure the creation of a more responsive, inclusive and equitable polity. One issue explicitly flagged for debate was the future role of Ghana’s diverse set of indigenous political institutions. The constitution review process became an arena for the renegotiation of their future role—as well as for a reassessment of their internal gendered power dynamics: Since British colonial authorities sidelined the female and augmented the male line of complementary dual hierarchies in the largest indigenous polities, the interaction between indigenous and ‘Western’-style institutions has been marked by a continued coloniality of gender and of power. Female indigenous authorities have been protesting this exclusion—and have used the constitution review process to voice their demands. They represent one set of voices that spoke loudly and clearly during the consultations. An analysis of the consultation process and the final report of the CRC examines to which extent the participants bidders have not just been invited to speak, but allowed to be heard.