What Happens in Ghana Stays in Ghana...

It seems what happens in Ghana stays in Ghana. At least when it comes to controversial news. The global media along with hundreds of personal blogs have been extolling the virtues of Ghana and it’s democratic process. A lot has been said about how Ghana has triumphed – not only for democracy as an institution but for it’s people as a whole.

This being said, I find it quite disturbing that the international media has not bothered to poke it’s nose back into the Ghana ‘scene’ to document the current uproar over what has been called ‘an outrage’ locally – I’m referring to the exit package of ex-President Kufuor.

Just as the dust settled after the run off elections here in early January, a package for Mr. Kufuor was pushed through hastily by parliament and without any regard for the frivolity and absurdity of it all.



I found a very interesting article written locally, comparing the retirement packages of the American president and our very own Kufuor. I just had to borrow the details here:

United States (Per Capita Income: $46,000): President Bush

* US$191,000 for his pension;
* Life time secret service protection for president & spouse
* Official travel expenses with 2 members of staff
* 0 cars
* 0 houses
* No end-of-service gratuity
* Private funds for presidential library (tax exempt)
* Presidential widows receive a lifetime pension of $20,000 per year.

source: http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-249.pdf

Ghana(Per Capita Income: $1,400): President Kufuor

* Lump-sum (thought to be worth $400,000)
* SIX fully maintained comprehensively insured, fuelled and chauffeured-driven cars to be replaced every four years. The fleet comprise of three salon cars, two cross country cars and one all-purpose vehicle.
* TWO Fully furnished residences that befit a former president at place of his choice
* 60 day overseas travel with 3 staff members each year
* 18 months consolidated salary
* Million-dollar seed money for the setting up a foundation,
* Security - 24 hours security services
* Budget for entertaining each year

It is too typical to be an outrage. Too much of this gluttony of the powerful in Africa is the status quo. Where will it stop? When will it end? Who cares enough to make the changes Africa needs?

I have noticed a plethora of new missionaries and their blogs in Ghana lately. This means there are more and more people focused on the country.

Christianity is fully entrenched here. Surely there are barely any more 'souls to win over', so what is the interest in Ghana? The truth is that it is believed to be a safe place for foreigners, yet a place you can still ‘make a difference’. A country where aid is still poured in for project after project.

Yet at the top sit the people like Kufuor, who flew around the world in his private jet to find donations, and who now at the end of his tenure, leaves with a whopping package that is tantamount to outright theft from the people of Ghana.

I have read that a leader is the reflection of his people – especially in democratic societies. Where then does that leave Ghana in this new democratic era? A shining example for Africa or a new twist on corruption, where the rich get richer and the poor simply stand by...

Democracy the Ghanaian way 2009

The new year has begun in earnest in Ghana. I missed it, being away in the cold calm of Canada, but the New Year was ushered in with the dawn of a new political era here.

The whole world has been looking to Ghana as the beacon of democratic hope for Africa, and indeed it might be. But on the ground I just can’t help rear my skeptical head.

The elections were very tight this year, which is nothing new, the two main parties in Ghana,the NPP (who’d been in power for the past 8 years), and the NDC (the party of JJ Rawlings who secured victory many years earlier in multiple bloody coups, but had surrendered power after losing the first democratic elections in 2000). This year however, the difference was that oil has been discovered off the shores of Ghana, and with Nigeria as the neighboring role model, this means lots of cash for the boys at the top once the oil giants start pumping…

The process of democracy in Africa, when it works, cannot be compared to anywhere else really. Just like religions that are adopted by different cultures and are adapted and molded, so it is with democracy in Africa.

From far off Canada, we eagerly tuned in each evening to the news to hear the progress of the process back in Ghana. After the first elections held on December 7th had produced an inconclusive result, there was a lot of concern in town that the second round would be quite contentious.

Indeed there was tension, and even warning shots fired one day when a mob stormed the electoral commission. Not to mention the hoards of election day poll workers who stormed the Electoral Commission when they had not been paid... This and other incidents were described by the international media as 'pockets of violence' in an otherwise peaceful process. The democracy I grew up with, learned from the Americans and the Brits, for all it’s faults, definitely did not include any pockets of violence. And to be fair, we were wary of returning to Ghana for a few days there…

Back here in Ghana, a local radio station was broadcasting war songs and urging the NDC supporters to come ‘in their numbers’ if the ‘wrong result’ was announced. The NDC crowd were the same group who descended on the EC…

Both parties accused the other of results fixing and on the day of the run-off election on the 29th, it was widely reported that NDC ‘strong men’ kept the NPP would be voters ‘at bay’. Not all Ghanaians on the ground were so proud of their leaders, over the course of the proceedings...

In the end, the victory of the NDC, the opposition, was announced. The numbers still hovered within 1% and the margin quite tight – could have gone either way. The NPP leader conceded the victory for the safety of the country. I think every Ghanaian will agree that had the result gone the other way, there would have been mayhem, chaos, a civil war. Luckily the ‘guys at the top’ took the route of peace.
Whether ‘democracy’ has won, and whether ‘better policies’ were chosen is not an issue here.

The $38million presidential palace has been inaugurated and the new Prez will move in ASAP.
Back in November before the elections, there was public concern about the fact that Ghana, as a developing nation, where the majority of people live on less than $2 a day, went ahead to spend $38 million on a palace for the president. In fact, the opposition leader at the time, Prof. Atta Mills of the NDC openly criticized the building. But he has no problem moving in now that he’s taken office.

I’ve heard that $30 million of the money was provided by the Indian government. I’ve never heard of such a huge donation to Ghana from another developing nation before? But then the population of India is now about 1 billion, and resources will be very important in the upcoming years, and as they’ve recently discovered a huge oil reserve off the Ghanaian coast, this is as good a time as any to make friends….

Ghana Elections 2008 - Peace AND Prosperity?

The poll results trickle in uneventfully. The day awaited with a wary enthusiasm has arrived in Ghana. Election Day 2008. The third democratic election, the first time since the discovery of oil. Local and foreign media have been obsessing about Ghana and it’s chance to raise the image of Africa in terms of the democratic process, and the ability of an African nation to face it with calm and organization as opposed to violence and mayhem.

We stayed home today, taking it easy and keeping a low profile, as we’d been advised. I listened for gunfire or sirens but I heard roosters and birds chirping.
We tuned in to the local media stations and watched a relatively calm if not highly organized day at the polls for Ghana.

The most shocking thing to happen today is balloting materials turning up late at the polls and people being forced to break into two or three lines after having queued for hours in one line… Not earth shattering stuff.

Maybe Ghana will pull through tonight’s results like a fully democratic country, and accept the winner fairly.

There is a lot at stake though, and judging by the numerous posters and music videos by local artists, along with pleading commercials from pastors and politicians alike, begging the nation for peace, it seems that most are very afraid of something untoward happening.

I noticed today that the overwhelming message was peace. Is this the best an African democracy can hope for? That people do not tear into others with machetes, for supporting another party? Tribalsim plays a big part here in terms of who votes for which candidate and what party. This morning voters were told not to wear any partisan clothing or paraphernalia to the voting polls. One man didn’t heed the warning and was ‘almost lynched’ according to the local TV station, Metro TV.

Supporters of one or another of the two main parties take things quite seriously. We were caught up in a cavalcade of NDC supporters last night, and delayed over an hour on a short stretch of road. Buses and cars and motorcycles waving the NDC flag enthusiastically, surrounded us completely. There was a palpable frenzy in the air as the people swayed and sang and rolled their arms in the NDC campaign sign, indicating the need for change. One taxi stuck beside us for a long period caught my eye. It was an old station wagon, with three jubilant supporters waving flags and in the back seat a cow. Yes a live, full grown cow. Curled around itself in an impossible space, they would tap her head each time she tried to raise it… (these are the Kodak moments Ghana offers, when you just don't have your camera on hand!). Seemed like EVERYONE was out for the party. I guessed the cow would be part of the feast, either for the post election party or for the Eid celebrations which take place tomorrow for Ghana’s muslims.

For us visitors it’ll be the fourth day of a four day weekend. By the end of tomorrow we should know the winner. As we weaved along the road among the campaigners, I noticed as darkness fell on us last night in the car, each village we passed through, had no lights. No electricity yet. In 2008. The people came out of the dim lit rooms, paraffin lamps glowing within, to shout their support as we passed.

I wondered whether the new party would do more than maintain peace. I wondered if they would bring the basics to their people. Light in villages, schooling for the children, hope for the future.