Developmental Constitutionalism and the Fourth Branch: Ghana’s Independent Constitutional Bodies and the Redress of Poverty and Inequality
Date
2023
Authors
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Publisher
Federal Law Review
Abstract
Ghana’s Constitution has long emphasised the importance of equality, democracy, human rights
and development. These principles are entrenched in a separation of powers framework that
includes independent constitutional bodies that operate semi-autonomously from the tripartite
executive, legislative and judicial branches. As part of a symposium on so-called ‘fourth branch’
institutions that provide redress for poverty and inequality, this article explores two institutions:
the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the National Development
Planning Commission. The first is a 30-year-old national human rights institution, which monitors
and investigates alleged violations of human rights, corruption and the misappropriation of public
moneys, and provides redress, partly through its increasing focus on economic and social rights
and the claims of the most vulnerable, including women, children and persons with disabilities.
The second, currently executive body, is the subject of current calls for constitutional reform in
Ghana. These reforms would entrench national development planning to enhance features of
autonomy, technical capacity and partisan independence. As such, these proposals offer a dis tinctive and yet also paradigm-defying model of fourth branch arrangements in developmental
constitutionalism, raising questions about the usurpation of policymaking and the deficits of
democracy that are commonly raised against courts, international financial institutions or other
international economic arrangements.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Ghana, Constitution, democracy