Democracy At Work In Ghana

Ghana, the first African country south of the Sahara to gain independence from Britain 50 years ago, prepares feverishly to go to the polls to elect a new President and Parliamentarians in about 13 months from now

The political parties expected to put up candidates for the Presidency are the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the official opposition the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Congress (PNC).

In the 2004 Presidential election, the incumbent President John Agyekum Kufuor won in a round off by 52.7 percent of the total votes cast while Professor John Arthur Mills of the NDC received 44.3 percent. In the parliamentary elections, the NPP secured 129 seats, followed by NDC with 88 seats; CPP – four seats and PNC three seats

The NDC has already re-elected Professor John Arthur Mills, formerly of the Law Faculty, University of Ghana, Legon, as its candidate for the Presidency for the third time.

The ruling party - the NPP is yet to elect its flag bearer. There are as many as 19 known aspirants for its flagbearership. The presidential hopefuls are currently criss crossing Ghana to solicit support from delegates to the party’s national delegates conference to be held in Accra, the nation’s capital, on December 22, 2007.

The aspirants include the following front runners: Nana Akuffo Addo, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General and lately Foreign Minister, Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo, former Finance Minister and former Education and Sports Minister, Dr. Addo Kufuor, brother of the President and former Defence Minister, Allan Kyeremateng, former Trade Minister, and the new kid on the block, Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy, one time student leader and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Family Health Centres Incorporated in Orangeburg in South Carolina, United States of America

Nana Ohene Ntow, General Secretary of the ruling NPP, was privileged to observe the Liberal Party of Canada leadership conference. The democratic principles Nana Ntow observed are being put in place for the election of the leader of the NPP

Meanwhile the Executives of the party in all the 224 ridings are electing candidates in the primaries for the parliamentary elections devoid of imposition of candidates. The primaries are under the direct supervision of the National Executive of the NPP... Mr. Kojo Peterson, a Mississauga based Ghanaian businessman, has won the NPP primary election for the riding of Ketu South in the Volta Region.

Mr. Peterson is one of three parliamentary aspirants from Greater Toronto Area.. The other two aspirants are Dr. Nana Twum Agyemang of Toronto for New Juaben North in the Eastern Region and Mr. Bob Ocran of Oakville for Amansie West in the Ashanti Region There is no information the other political parties have parliamentary aspirants in the GTA.

All the other political parties, including the official opposition, are also conducting parliamentary primaries in all the ridings. This is a clear manifestation of democracy is gaining roots in Ghana

Since independence on March 6, 1957, Ghana has gone through traumatic experiences. The backdrop of these experiences started from democratically elected parliament at independence to a republican one party dictatorship three years later.

The late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who wrestled independence from Britain introduced it. Dr. Nkrumah’s parliament rubber-stamped a Preventive Detention Act (PDA) that aimed at detaining without trial political opponents or persons suspected of subversion. Following the passing of this notorious Act, an eminent Jurist and Doyen of Ghana Politics, Dr. J. B. Danquah was arrested under the PDA and subsequently died at Nkrumah’s Medium Security Prison at Nsawam, 25 kilometers North of Accra. In those days, there was no freedom of speech.

Following the death of Dr. Danquah, the military toppled Dr. Nkrumah’s regime in February 1966. He was on a state visit to the People’s Republic of China. This first coup d’etat opened the floodgate to rude military interventions coupled with human rights abuses and careless dissipation of public funds. These Military Juntas, who accused the democratically elected governments of corruption, were themselves guilty of the same offence.

Ordinary Ghanaian military personnel, who ceased power through the barrel of the gun, milked the nation white, because they were unaccountable to anybody. The latest military junta which styled itself The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), headed by then Ghana Air Force Officer, Flt-Lt Jerry Rawlings, set up a number of institutions and committees aimed at correcting the country’s mismanagement.

One of the Committees, the Citizens Vetting Committee (CVC), under the chairmanship of Kwamina Ahwoi, former Lecturer in Law, University of Ghana, whose mandate was to probe wealthy Ghanaians and confiscate their properties as well as forfeiting their ill-gotten money, lined their pockets with the moneys ceased.

When the late Dr. Hilla Limann assumed office as President after being elected democratically, he felt the burden of the nation’s responsibility weighed very heavily on his shoulders and pressured Jerry Rawlings to account of his stewardship to which he failed. It is therefore ridiculous and preposterous for Jerry Rawlings to accuse any body of corruption

Dr. Limann told a foreign correspondent in an interview in Accra in 1980 that the economy of the nation was very bleak and Jerry Rawlings was yet to account to him (Dr. Limann). Jerry Rawlings again ceased power from Dr. Limann, because he could not bear the pressure from his successor.

In his reign of terror, Rawlings lined up top military brass and shot them by firing squad for allegedly amassing wealth. . Press freedom was stifled and many journalists were either incarcerated or fled the country. John Kugblenu, a Journalist, and Editor of the Free Press, who was critical of Rawlings’ dictatorship, was arrested, detained and never brought to trial. He was released and died one month after in 1984. Besides there were disappearances. In addition, three Superior Court Justices and a retired military officer were picked up in the night from their homes and were savagely murdered. The crime of the Judges was that they were very critical of Rawlings actions and had ruled them unconstitutional.

Through the ballot box in the year 2000, the country is now breathing a new air of freedom, justice and democracy. Now there is freedom of speech and nobody looks over his/her shoulders to criticize the government. There is also accountability and zero tolerance for corruption. There are no political prisoners and no human right abuses. This is democracy at work