The politics of healthcare reforms in Ghana under the Fourth Republic since 1993: a critical analysis

Abstract

This article analyzes the politics behind the consensus on healthcare by major political parties in Ghana’s Fourth Republic since 1993. Using Ghana over the period under review as a case in point, the paper’s main argument is that politics matters when it comes to the origination, design and implementation of healthcare programs, including the influence of constitutional design and practice, evidenced in a relative paucity of veto points, in facilitating the enactment of legislation on healthcare reforms; and the extent to which healthcare is defined as a human right. A high point of the paper is a critical assessment of the effectiveness of Ghana’s healthcare initiative based on the extent to which it meets the needs of citizens, from a human rights standpoint, in the face of a public health emergency of the type that the world currently faces with the COVID-19 pandemic.