ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on five West African countries that drafted a new constitution and began a process of political transition at more or less the same time-during the first three years of the 1990s. The five West African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo-Brazzaville, Ghana and Togo. The chapter discusses the impact of constitution-making process on the stability of the new constitution. It explores the extent to which constitutional stability during the transition process facilitates gradual establishment of democracy. The chapter looks at interrelationship between the constitution-making process and the dynamic of conflict, on the one hand, and consensus, on the other. In Ghana, a body rather similar to a National Conference was established, but this time under the express instructions of President Jerry Rawlings, who expressed a readiness for the gradual introduction of multi-party rule. According to the constitution of Congo-Brazzaville, initiative for the revising the Constitution belongs both to the president of the Republic and to members of parliament.
