April 1992 — Voters approve a new democratic Constitution creating a multi-party system of government with government officials elected by universal suffrage and power divided among a president, parliament, cabinet, council of state, and an independent judiciary. The Constitution also enshrines many basic human rights and protects the freedom and independence of the press. However, the Constitution also provides immunity from liability to members of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) government for past criminal acts.
May 1992 — Opposition political parties become legal.
November 1992 — Jerry Rawlings, who has been head of state since a military coup in 1981, is elected president.
December 1992 — Opposition parties boycott parliamentary elections, claiming the presidential election had been tainted by fraud. The opposition parties will go on to use a small but influential independent press to voice their criticism of President Rawlings and his ruling party.
Spring 1993 — Pursuant to the Constitution, several autonomous governmental oversight bodies are created, including the National Commission on Civic Education, which promotes citizenship and good governance, and the National Media Commission, which monitors private and state-owned media, maintains journalistic standards, and protects the media from government interference and control. Other oversight bodies created during this time include: the National Electoral Commission, the District Assemblies Common Fund, and the National Council for Higher Education.
July 1993 — The Courts Act restructures the national court system, heightening the independence and accountability of the judiciary. The Supreme Court hands the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) two important victories: First, the court orders the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation to provide the NPP fair and equal access to its facilities; second, the court rules that the arrest and prosecution of party members staging a demonstration against the 1993 budget were unconstitutional.
September 1993 — The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is established as an independent body with the authority to investigate allegations of human rights violations, injustice, and corruption. By 1996, the CHRAJ receives more than 12,400 complaints and completes action in 8,775 of them, carries out a nationwide inspection of jails and prisons, calls for the abolition of the death penalty, and, at the behest of President Rawlings, conducts an unprecedented investigation of corruption allegations against four high-ranking government officials.
November 1993 — The NPP begins engaging in a dialogue with the government.
December 1993 — Parliament passes the Serious Fraud Office Bill, which establishes an independent agency to monitor and investigate fraud, embezzlement, and other serious economic crimes.
1994 — Ethnic violence in the northern region of Ghana leads to the enactment of the Emergency Powers Act, which permits the government to censor news from or about areas affected by a state of emergency.
March 1994 — The first non-partisan district and local elections conducted under the 1992 Constitution are held. More than 10,800 candidates (383 of whom are women) compete for 4,282 seats in 97 district, municipal, and metropolitan assemblies. Newly elected district assemblies convene in June.
November 1994 — Radio Eye, an unlicensed national radio station, begins broadcasting. The government promptly shuts it down and seizes its equipment. However, in February 1995, the government announces it will allow properly licensed radio stations to begin broadcasting. The government receives more than 60 license applications.
May 1995 — Thousands demonstrate in Accra for the repeal of a value-added tax that worsens the country's economy. Five people are killed and 17 are injured during the demonstration, allegedly by government-hired thugs.
August 1997 — The Supreme Court rules that the CHRAJ has the authority to investigate human rights and corruption matters that occurred before the restoration of democracy in 1992, but does not have jurisdiction to investigate property seizures by the pre-1992 government.
March 2000 — Due to concerns of corruption, the World Bank cancels a 925 billion cedis (US$100 million) water project and demands that Ghana refund 7.4 billion cedis (US$800,000) disbursed for preparing the project.
December 2000 — John Kufuor is elected president, marking the first democratic transfer of power in Ghana's post-independence history. In his inaugural address, Kufuor promises a policy of "zero tolerance" for corruption.
March 2001 — Fast track courts, special courts in which technological advances allow cases to be more speedily resolved, are inaugurated. After a successful pilot program, plans are announced to establish fast track courts in all regions of the country by March 2003. In 2001, two former ministers are tried and convicted of public corruption in the new courts: Youth and Sports Minister Mallam Yusif Isa and Deputy Minister of Finance Victor Selormey.
May 2001 — A stampede at a soccer stadium kills 126. An official inquiry concludes that the police's use of tear gas to control fan vandalism was the primary cause of the stampede. In November, the government announces manslaughter charges will be brought against six senior police officers who gave the order to use tear gas. In July 2003, the six officers are acquitted.
July 2001 — Parliament repeals the criminal libel and sedition laws and dismisses all cases pending under the laws, which made reporting intended to injure the reputation of the government a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
December 2001 — Parliament creates the National Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights violations committed during the previous military regimes.
February 2002 — The government stops the sale of Ghana Telecom to Telecom Malaysia on grounds that members of the former government had allegedly received free shares.
March 2002 — Ethnic violence in the northern region of Ghana leads the government to declare a state of emergency and impose restrictions on press coverage, requiring journalists to clear all stories about the conflict with the Information Ministry. However, many journalists choose to ignore the restrictions and face no retaliation or punishment by the government.
March 2002 — The deputy auditor-general reports that during the previous two years, more than 185 billion cedis (US$20 million) had been paid out to approximately 2,000 "ghost" employees on the civil service payroll.
November 2002 — The government extends the state of emergency in the northern region.
January 2003 — The National Reconciliation Commission begins hearing testimony.
April 2003 — Three former government ministers are convicted of misappropriating millions of dollars in connection with a rice-growing program, called the Quality Grain Project.
July 2003 — President Kufuor establishes the Office of Accountability to reduce corruption by government appointees and public servants. The office's activities are limited to appointees of the president, such as ministers and senior aides, and will not supersede any of the other governmental bodies charged with fighting public corruption.
November 2003 — A study of Ghana's public service finds thousands of "ghost" employees are still on the public payroll.
December 2003 — Parliament enacts the Public Procurement Act in an effort to make government procurement more efficient and less prone to corruption.
July 2004 — The National Reconciliation Commission concludes its hearings after hearing testimony from thousands of people, including former President Jerry Rawlings. The commission submits its final report with recommendations in October. The government accepts the recommendation to establish a Reparation and Rehabilitation Fund for victims of abuse and orders security forces to study the commission's recommendations on recruitment, training and deployment.
August 2004 — The government lifts all remaining state of emergency restrictions in the northern region.
December 2004 — Kufuor is elected to a second presidential term.
January 2005 — Ghana becomes the first African country to successfully complete the five stages of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), by which African leaders assessed the country's political, economic, and corporate governance and socioeconomic development. The final report commended Ghana's commitment to democratic transfers of power, but identified several areas in need of improvement, such as gender equality and corruption.
November 2005 — Parliament member Eric Amoateng is arrested for allegedly smuggling heroin into the United States.
August 2006 — Parliament enacts the Whistleblowers Act. Under the act, individuals can, without fear of retribution, report corrupt or illegal conduct in the country.
September 2006 — The World Diamond Council suggests that all Ghanaian rough-diamond exports be suspended as a measure to prevent the illegal export of Ivorian diamonds. Diamonds worth up to US$23 million are produced by rebel-controlled mines in Ivory Coast and smuggled to Mali and Ghana, violating U.N. sanctions and funding the rebel war effort.
February 2007 — The International Press Institute reports, "Ghana's Inspector General of Police, Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, promised journalists that police would provide the necessary protection for them to fulfill their duty of demanding accountability from public office holders… Journalists in the country had faced severe and increasing attacks throughout 2006 from several actors, exacerbated by the government's refusal to properly deal with such actions, and bring those responsible to justice… The situation had deteriorated so gravely that in late September 2006 the Ghana Journalists' Association (GJA) announced it would take legal action against groups or people who attacked members of the media. Meanwhile, the country rises above African counterparts in its support of the press as the only African country surveyed by Article 19 which has no criminal defamation legislation, after it repealed its criminal defamation provisions in 2001."
July 2007 — The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) urges the government to speed up efforts to strengthen the asset declaration law as a move to help curb the increasing rate of corruption. According to Linda Ofori-Kwafo, acting executive secretary of GII, most Ghanaians including public officials,who are required under the law to make declarations of their assets, are ignorant of the laws as well as its importance in the fight against corruption.
March 2008 — In Accra, nine Nigerians are sentenced to five years in jail each after being found guilty of fraud. The group apparently sent fake e-mails and letters using letterheads that resembled those of senior government officials. One such email masqueraded as the Ghanaian president and asked a French businessman for over $100,000.
May 2008 — In a statement released at the end of the Seventh Africa Media Leadership Conference, held in Kampala, Uganda, the government of Ghana is urged to give life to the Freedom of Information Bill, which would further extend freedom of expression in the country. The conference is attended by some 30 heads of media firms from Southern Africa, West Africa, East Africa and the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and the Seychelles.
June 2008 — According to a survey of 1,200 respondents conducted by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), majority of Ghanaians believe that the incidence of corruption in key public institutions in the country is on the rise. Results from the survey identify police, tax officials, the judiciary, government agencies, parliament, the presidency and elected local government officials as entities generally perceived as corrupt by Ghanaians.
According to Forest Watch Ghana (FWG), the umbrella body of civil society organizations operating in the forestry industry, state complicity is to blame for massive corruption in the country's timber sector. At a civil society consultative forum on the recent Government and European Union (EU) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) negotiation, Tweretwie Opoku, a legal practitioner and a member of FWG says "Out of 600 timber concessions, only five meet the requirements for timber license and I have always maintained that 100 percent of all the timber that leave the shores of Ghana are illegal; and in all these the state is an accomplice in the massive corruption."
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