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ISSUE/EDITION Nr 400 - 15/11/2000

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ELECTIONS

Ghana’s presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for 7 December 2000.
The following is a brief description of the country and its history

Ghana covers an area of over 238,540 sq. km., and is situated on the Gulf of Guinea. The country is surrounded by Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo. The north is a savanna region while the south is tropical forest. The population is estimated at 19 millions. The largest group is that of the Akan (one of whom is the Ashanti) who occupy the centre of the country. The Guan live on the plains around the Volta River. Then come the smaller groups: the Ga and the Ewe to the south east, and in the northern part of the country, the Dagaba, the Grusi, the Maprusi and Dagomba (Mossi), the Nanumba and Konkomba.

The majority of the population claim to be Christians (protestants some 25%, Catholics 15%, Pentecostal 10% and numerous sects). It is estimated that 15% are Muslims. Generally speaking there is great religious tolerance.

Some history

Formerly a British Colony, Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to obtain independence on 6 March 1957, with the father of the nation, Kwame Nkrumah, as its first President. After living for years in the United States and Britain, he returned to Ghana in 1947. A charismatic leader, he was the one who led his country to independence.

A great advocate and defender of the pan-African ideal, Nkrumah’s preference was for international politics, where he played a very important role. He was less successful at internal politics. He had some very ambitious projects aimed at making of Ghana, a free and autonomous country. Taking advantage of the high price of cocoa, he initiated some grandiose projects; but when the price of cocoa fell, the economy was engulfed in a descending spiral from which it was to escape only twenty years later. Corruption took hold among government officials. Nkrumah himself was something of a dictator. A new constitution allowed a presidential system with extensive powers. The trade unions were absorbed into the party, local organizations were forbidden, the press muzzled, opponents jailed.

While Nkrumah was in Pekin, he was overthrown in a coup on 24 February 1966. There followed a troubled period for Ghana, as it was plunged deeper into economic recession and had a succession of governments both civilian and military. The new government, the National Liberation Council, was led by General Ankrah. To meet the enormous debt of the country, he put an end to the grandiose projects and devalued the Cedi (the Ghanaian unit of currency), a move which did not endear him to the people. However, he kept his promise to return to democracy. The party of Kofi Busia emerged as the clear winner of the elections of 1969, but his government was a failure.

On 13 January 1972, the military led by Colonel Acheampong seized  power. Acheampong revalued the Cedi and gave farmers better prices. However, from 1974 to 1977 prices of basic commodities soared, reaching as much as 600%. In 1978, General Akuffo took power. The country was in a parlous state. A new leader was needed to restore its sense of national dignity

Flight-Lieutenant J.J.Rawlings

On 15 May 1979 there was another failed coup. Among the arrested officers was a young air force lieutenant called Jerry John Rawlings. During the subsequent court case, he took advantage of the massive publicity, to proclaim the people’s griefs against the those in power. A national hero was born. On 4th June, his comrades freed him from prison. His Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) promised to restore civilian government, but began with a clean-up as an example to others. Military tribunals imposed heavy fines not only on corrupt politicians and functionaries, but also on army officers. Eight highly placed officers were executed, among them Acheampong and Akuffo.

Elections in 1979 brought to power a diplomat from the north of the country, Hilla Limann. But very soon, his government showed itself to be powerless. The economy weakened once more and corruption again took over. After two years, on 31 December 1981, Rawlings seized power for a second time.

The Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC), supported by enthusiastic students, preached revolutionary ideals: «Power to the People». Peoples Courts were set up and in some places workers occupied and took over businesses, even those owned by foreigners. But the problems mounted up. Foreign investors withdrew, the economy slumped, the markets emptied, while smuggling and the black market flourished. And then to cap it all, a year of drought and the return of a million Ghanaians expelled from Nigeria provoked a famine.

In 1983, pragmatism won the day. Rawlings turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and got loans. While the words were revolutionary, practice adapted to the principles of the free market. Rawlings launched a draconian program of economic reform, based on the policies of structural adjustment of the IMF and the World Bank. The strategy seemed to pay off. In the following ten years, the Ghanaian economy reached an average growth of 5%. The government succeeded in mastering inflation, and succeeded in restoring confidence to donors and foreign investors.

The economy

In spite of all its troubles, Ghana is a country with real economic potential. Its greatest riches are in the southern part of the country. Its principal exports are gold, cocoa and tropical wood.

Gold: Ghana still deserves the name it had in colonial times: The Gold Coast. It is the eleventh producer of gold in the world. Gold represents 45% of its export revenue. There are enormous reserves in the south of the country, particularly in the Ashanti region. The Ashanti Goldfield Company is the most profitable company in Africa. It has about 10,000 employees. Since the beginning of the nineties, when state interference ended, gold production has seen a spectacular rise and has become the principal source of foreign exchange for the country.

Cocoa: From 1911 to 1977, Ghana was the largest producer of cocoa in the world. Since then it has declined and has been overtaken by Côte d’Ivoire and Brazil. In 1983, production was at its lowest, principally because of a year of unprecedented drought, but also for structural reasons: the lowering of world prices, the overvaluation of the national currency and the deterioration of the plantations. Since then production has picked up a little, but has not regained its former value.

Timber: The export of tropical wood is the third source of foreign exchange, but it is feared that it could soon come to an end. The reason is wholesale deforestation. Many species of tree have already disappeared. The government now tends to diminish the export of raw wood, and to increase the export of manufactured wood products.

Agriculture: Apart from cocoa, commercial agricultural production consists of tobacco, groundnuts, sugar cane, cotton, coffee and palm oil, all destined principally for local industry. In fact, Ghana has experienced difficulties in providing foodstuffs and has been obliged to import large amounts of food, largely because of growing urbanization. Peasant farmers produce enough only for their own use, since there are insufficient incentives to produce more. They cannot get rid of surplus produce because of lack of means of transport and the bad state of the roads. The situation has recently improved. A policy of improving roads and raising the prices given to producers has encourage farmers to increase production.

Other resources: Besides gold, there is diamond, manganese and bauxite mining. For some decades, there has been oil exploration. Six oil fields have already been discovered, one inland and five on the coast, but production has not yet begun. Another sector which is expanding is that of tourism. In 1992 there were some 200,000 tourists; in 1996 the number of visitors had grown to 300,000. Many are from the United States — Afro-Americans, coming in search of their roots.

The Fourth Republic

In 1991, Ghana decided to become again a parliamentary democracy. In April, a draft constitution was put to a referendum and accepted by a very large majority. This constitution gives wide-ranging powers to the president. It provides for a single chamber of representatives, and guarantees the independence of the judiciary.

J.J. Rawlings stood in the presidential election held on 3 November 1992 and won with almost 60% of the votes cast. Four opposition parties accused him of fraud, which could never be proved, and decided to boycott the general elections held in December. Thus the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of Rawlings won 189 of the 200 seats in the National Assembly. He then asked his Members of Parliament to enter into dialogue with the Opposition who remained outside parliament.

This dialogue appears to have been fruitful. In the new elections of 1996, Rawlings again became president with 57% of the votes, against nearly 40% for his nearest rival, J.A. Kufuor. In the general elections, the NDC won 133 seats and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) 65. (77% of the electorate voted while only 52% voted in 1992)

In the December 2000 elections, the economic crisis will play a large part. A third of the population still lives in extreme poverty, and recently the Ghanaian economy underwent a severe downturn, due particularly to severe drought but also because of commercial crisis. In April 1998, the hydroelectric dam of Akosombo, which normally produces 912 megawatts, was able to produce only 250 because of the lack of rain, and so economic activity was paralysed. The prices of cocoa and gold fell, while the bill for oil imports went sky high. This led to increasing inflation and a steady erosion of the value of the Cedi. Since November 1998, the value of the Cedi against the dollar fell from 2,345 for one dollar, to 3,300 for one dollar a year later, and then to 4,500 for one dollar in May 2000, and 6,300 for one dollar in August. An increase of 20% in the minimum wage was granted by the government, but it remained far below what was demanded by the Unions.

In the general elections, eight political parties will fight for the 200 seats in parliament: The National Democratic Congress (NDC, Rawlings’ party); the New Patriotic Party (NPP of Kufuor); the Convention People’s Party (CPP); the National Reform Party (NRP); the People’s National Convention (PNC); the United Ghana Movement (UGM); the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP); and the EGLE Party. All these parties, except the last, are also putting up a candidate for the presidency. It is generally expected that the contest for the presidency will be between John Kufuor, the losing candidate against Rawlings in 1996, and the NDC‘s candidate, the sitting vice-president John Evans Atta Mills.

Jerry Rawlings himself can no longer be a candidate for the presidency, since he has served the maximum two terms as President foreseen by the constitution of 1992. He is supporting his vice president, Mr. Mills, but the latter lacks charisma. Rawlings can continue to play a key role in the country. The new statutes of his party want to nominate him as life-president, and the grass roots think that he is the only person capable of making the necessary decisions, when the time comes, to rectify the situation of the country.

An article in the Washington Post quoted these words by Mr. Gyimah-Boadi, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development in Accra: «One of the big problems is to know what to do with someone such as J. J. Rawlings, who is only 53 years old, who has spent half his life in power, who loves being a leader, and who has been trained for nothing else. By temperament he cannot remain hanging about with nothing to do and look on calmly as things happen.»

• ANB-BIA, Brussels, October 2000 — © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment

(Principal source for the history section: «Ghana», Novib, den Haag, 1997)

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