A constitutional paradox? Ghana’s peaceful democratic transition

Extrapolated from a case study on Ghana for a much larger research project on Constitutional Design and Conflict Management in Africa, this article will first provide a short history of Ghana since 1957 (i.e. when the Gold Coast became the first country in Africa to obtain independence) then going on to outline the main features of the 1992 Constitution. The article will proceed by addressing the three most important «constitutional moments» of the last two decades i.e. the presidential and parliamentary elections of 1992, 2000 and 2008. The final part of this contribution will be devoted to highlighting the constitutional and non-constitutional factors that the author believes have contributed to the success of Ghana’s democratic transition and underlining what parts of the Constitution ought to be amended in the light of the work of Ghana’s Constitution Review Commission.