Constitution Analysis Term Paper

Introduction

Taking into consideration the will of Ghanaian people, their cultural traditions and historical development, the Constitution of the state of Ghana is proclaimed as the main law which regulates all civil relations within the country and subordinates all other legislative acts promulgated by Ghanaian government and parliament as well as Ghanaian people. This Constitution guarantees all citizens of Ghana, regardless their ethnicity, cultural or religious beliefs, gender, age, education, level of income, equal rights and opportunities to realize their rights. At the same time, the Constitution regulates the basic norms of life of citizen of Ghana, defines its administrative division, government and juridical system.

Basic rights

The Constitution of Ghana is based on the principles of equality and mutual respect of all citizens inhabiting the country. The Constitution guarantees the protection of Constitutional rights of every citizen of Ghana and prevents any attempts of oppression or discrimination.

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One of the basic rights of Ghanaian citizens is the right to life. This right guarantees that every citizen of Ghana have a right to protect his/her life, claim for the sufficient level of life which could not reduce his/her rights or negatively influence his/her dignity.

Another basic principle of this Constitution underlines the equality of rights of all citizens and refers to absolutely all rights, including the right to education. This means that every citizen of Ghana has a right to receive education and the state should possibly support citizens’ efforts and create conditions and possibilities for every citizen to receive at least elementary education. Thus, no one could be deprived of the right to receive elementary education and citizens should be stimulated to continue their education since it is the basis for the creation of the future scientific elite of the state that could lead the country to new perspectives and provide the possibilities to preserve national culture and traditions from total ruination and influence from abroad.

Every citizen has a right to choose freely his/her religion and beliefs according to his/her freewill, cultural traditions and customs. The equality of all churches within the country should provide the equality of rights of all religious people in Ghana. Atheism neither can be a pretext for discrimination that is absolutely unacceptable and forbidden by this Constitution.

At the same time, every citizen of Ghana is expected to be respectful, dignified and observant in public settings and in most every aspect of life.

Government and Parliament

Taking into considerations the historical traditions of Ghana, this Constitution proclaims the country as a Constitutional Monarchy where the official head of the country is the Monarch while all executive power is in the hands of the Government and legislative power is in the hands of the Parliament though legislative initiatives from the part of the Monarch are also possible on the condition if they do not contradict to the present Constitution and do not limit the rights of Ghanaian citizens.

The Parliament of Ghana should be bicameral and consist of two houses the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate should be elected by all citizens directly at open and democratic elections and every citizen of Ghana should have a right and possibility to elect and be elected. The Senate should have the legislative power as well as the power to veto any legislative initiative of the Monarch or the House of Representatives.

As for the House of Representatives, it should be constituted by the representatives of the local communities, or federal states, representing different ethnic groups on the principle of equality. It has a power to approve legislative acts implemented by the Senate and it has the right to legislative initiative though it has to be approved by the Senate.

The Government should be formed by the Senate. It should gain support of the majority of senators (50% and one senator) in order to be formed. Since it is political parties that participate in the elections, the party or parties that win the majority have the right to form the Government while the rest of the Parliament can remain in opposition or cooperate with the Government respectively to their programs and ideology.

Government is headed by the Prime-Minister elected by the Senate and he names the members of the Government and the whole Cabinet should be approved by the Senate. The Government has all executive power in the country as well as local authorities should also have executive power within their federal territory.

Administrative division

Ghana, being a multinational state, should be a federal state where each ethnic group should have a right to form a federal state within the territory of the compact living of representatives of this ethnic group. Actually, it should be five basic federal states respectively to five basic ethnic groups constituting the population of Ghana. Each ethnic group within its federal state should have a right to legislative initiative as well as to implementation of the local legislative acts by the locally elected parliament and executed by the federal government, which are formed accordingly to the local laws.

At the same time, no law or legislative initiative within any state could contradict to this Constitution or to any federal law and any arguable questions between the states should be discussed on the federal level. Thus, the Government and Parliament has legislative supremacy compared to the local states.

Juridical system

Obviously, any juridical problems should be solved by the federal Court. To regulate relations within the country the Supreme Court should be created which form the system of Courts solving the current legislative problems of citizens, organizations, and state. On the other hand, to solve legislative problems related to the interpretation and execution of the current Constitution should belong to the domain of the Constitutional Court. The juridical system of Ghana should be based on the principles of independence, tolerance, equality, objectivity and accessibility to all citizens so that each citizen could have a possibility to protect his/her rights.

Conclusion

This Constitution is the main law of Ghana and all citizens, organizations, and state should act in accordance with the norms of this Constitution. At the same time, this Constitution may be changed if the changes do not deteriorate the position of Ghanaian citizens or limit their rights. The changes may be implemented by 2/3rd of the Senate and approved by the House of Representatives, while the most important questions, such as sovereignty, participation of Ghanaian citizens in military conflicts, etc. should be discussed and implemented via referendum which each citizen of Ghana should have a right to participate in.

Bibliography:

Brooks, R.J. Ghana: History, Culture, Traditions. LA: McGraw Hill, 1999.
Lewis, P. Africa: Terra Incognita. London: Routledge, 2000.
Parker, I.W. Ghana: Political System and Ethnical Diversity. New York: New Publishers, 1998.
Rodriguez, C.R. Ghanaian Religions. Chicago: McWillis Books, 2002.
Stevenson, L. History of Ghana. New York: Routledge, 2003.
Wilson, G.L. Ghanaian Society and Culture. New York: New Publishers, 2000.