Improving Citizen-Government Engagement in Ghana

Ghana is regarded as a shining star in Africa when it comes to democracy. However, many will agree
that our democracy must grow beyond conducting peaceful elections every four years. If indeed
democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people as claimed by Abraham
Lincoln, then it is important that citizens participate in decision-making.

According to the OECD, there are three levels at which governments can interact with citizens. They
are provision of information, consultation and active participation. The use these forms of public
engagement will ensure greater transparency. Having the public as part of the decision-making
process also leads to greater accountability as they serve as a control. While decision-making that
involves a large number of individuals and groups with their own ideologies and views have its own
disadvantages, it is likely to lead to higher level of legitimacy. Furthermore, different opinions may
lead to more policy options and quality decisions.

Despite all the accolades we have earned as a democratic state, there is still the need to improve
citizen-government engagement. In the area of provision of information, there is need to ensure
that information is given willingly and when demanded. In this regards, it is important for citizens to
put pressure on both the Executive and the Legislature to pass the Right to Information Bill which has
been pending since it was first discussed in 2001. One will argue that with the proliferation of the
media outlets, government has opened up the communication space for vibrant debate and
discussion on national issues. However, we need to make use of this opportunity by discussing
pertinent issues that aid policy and decision making instead of devoting most of our time to
discussing partisan politics.

To move public engagement between government and citizens a notch higher, there is the need for
government to organise consultations in the form of town hall meetings, setting up of working
groups, stakeholder consultations, etc. in order to seek the opinion of citizens for policy formulation
and public decision-making. In Ghana, there have been several instances where committees have
been set up by government, citizens are invited to share their opinions but government fails to
comment on the report for a long time. This attitude has the tendency of leading to lower public
participation in decision-making. It is impossible, for instance, for government to respond to every
citizen who comments on a new proposed bill but there is the need for feedback in the form of a
summary that reflect the views of the citizens who participated.

While we improve consultations by government, we also need to think about active participation by
citizens. With active participation, government considers citizens, and civil society for that matter, as
equal partners in the democratic process of public decision-making. Active participation means
citizens must be able to put forward proposals for new policies or join government in drafting
policies.

After almost a quarter of a century of democracy, there is no doubt about Ghanas ability to transfer
peacefully the management of the country from one political party to the other. However, citizen
participation in decision-making cannot be reduced to universal adult suffrage and arguments on
radio and TV. While concluding I will make three suggestions. First, we need to revisit the Right to
Information Bill and get it passed. Furthermore, we must learn from other countries like the UK
where there is A Code on the Practices of Consultations that is intended to harness consultation
between government and civil society. Finally, active participation can be encouraged by introducing
private bills as done in the UK.

Reference

Participation of NGOs in the process of policy- and law- making. Comparative Analysis, Bulgarian
Center for Not-for-Profit Law, 2009

Kuuku Sam

For comments and suggestions: kuuku.sam@gmail.com