From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:GHANA: RAWLINGS WIN DUE TO VOTE OF THE UNDERPRIVILEGED
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 23:15:39 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Latin America
Title: GHANA: RAWLINGS WIN DUE TO VOTE OF THE UNDERPRIVILEGED


accra, nov 8 (ips/ruby ofori) -- the opposition lost last week's
presidential elections because they underestimated incumbent
jerry rawlings and misread the political trends, according to a
senior member of ghana's ruling provisional national defence
council (pndc).

in an exclusive interview with ips, security boss kojo
tsikata, one of rawlings' closest advisers since the 1981 coup,
denied the opposition's accusations of fraud in the nov. 3 poll
and predicted the opposition boycott of the parliamentary
elections scheduled for dec. 8 would soon cave in.

he rejected the four opposition parties demands for a delay
in the transition to democratic rule until a new identification
system could be introduced and the voters register reopened.

''all these have been discussed in the past. why stop the
process for something that will take 18 months?'', he said.

the parties declared a boycott soon after preliminary results
of the presidential elections showed they had been massively
defeated by rawlings.

the presidential losers, albert adu boahen, gen. emmanuel
erskine, hilla limann and kwabena darko alleged gross
manipulation by the rawlings led alliance of parties under his
umbrella national democratic congress (ndc).

tsikata, the pndc's master strategist, said the opposition
new patriotic party (npp) candidate adu boahen -- who was widely
tipped to beat or at worst tie with rawlings forcing a second
ballot -- lost because of his party's failure to analyse the
''political situation deeply''.

''they predicted at every phase what they thought should
happen and it never did''. their most disastrous prediction was
that ''if rawlings stood the whole country would unite against
him''. instead he won 60 per cent of the votes.

during the interview tsikata -- viewed as the arch bogeyman
of the regime by government critics -- talked lucidly about
history and the parallels between the situation which faced
ghana's first president kwame nkrumah -- now a national hero --
and rawlings.

he said the leaders of the npp were the same class of
business people and professionals who opposed nkrumah in the
50s and 60s, in fact many of them were the same men.

in contrast to their urban elitism, nkrumah mobilised the
rural and urban poor and the unemployed, market women and the
working class. (more/ips)


ghana: rawlings (2)

at the time nkrumah's detractors said his was the party of
the ''verandah boys'' (the unemployed and domestic workers)
similarly rawlings was said to be leader of the ''kobolo''
(meaning ruffians in the ga language of accra). his charisma and
populist touch won him substantial support among the urban and
rural underprivileged.

in the independence days they tried to label nkrumah a
''communist''. now the new ''devilish label is human rights
abuser'' for rawlings.

tsikata said the oppostion boycott and accusations were
historically characteristic of them: ''they must win or there's
no election''.

he accepted there were ''imperfections in the voting
system'', but these were inevitable in a third world country
where most were illiterate and lacked standard means of
identification such as cards and house numbers.

''they (the opposition) have not stated to anybody how this
election was rigged. from the system that was set up it would be
difficult to see how it could have been rigged.''

in response to critics who argue that rawlings the soldier
and decade-long dictator would not be able to handle a
parliamentary system tsikata asked, ''why are they making all
these judgements even before the man has started?

''he's not the first military man to lead a nation. there was
de gaulle and eisenhower... one of the contestants is also a
military man and its more difficult to get a general to accept
collective decisions''.

asked what the government could do to heal the growing
political divisions tsikata doged the question saying it was up
to the opposition to take part in the parliamentary elections to
test the system.

since the election there have been isolated politically
motivated acts of violence in this usually peacefull west
african country.

the most serious of these occurred on nov. 8 when an ndc
supporter was doused with petrol and set ablaze. a few days
earlier there were bomb raids on three public buildings. these
incidents have raised the spectre of emergency powers and
political instability.

dr richard joseph leader of the carter center observer group
in ghana for the elections advised the opposition and the
government to try to resolve their differences through dialogue.
he said both had ''much to lose'' if enmity was allowed to hold
sway. (more/ips)


ghana: rawlings (3)

tsikata seemed a trifle irritated by the american-based
groups's advice. the carter centre were the only international
election observers who noted vote irregularities which could be
interpreted as deliberate rigging. both the commonwealth and
organisation of african unity said the poll was free and
fair.

''we've tried to build a concensus in the past that was the
basis of the consultative assembly, concesnus building is
nothing new to us'', tsikata said. we dont need any advise from
the carter centre on that issue. concensus is the basis of our
traditional society . it's in the blood.''

observers say it is unlikely the ghana government will put
off the parliamentary elections now that rawlings has
legitimised his 11-year rule.

looking back at those turbulent times of political
repression, tsikata said the worst and most difficult factor was
''the complex and deep nature of the economic crisis'' which the
pndc inherited.

echoing rawlings main campaign message on the hustings, tsikata
said it was abosolutely imperative the new government continue with
the export oriented, deficit conscious, economic recovery
programme begun in 1983.

tsikata said the new rawlings government would have to
prioritise income redistribution and increase expenditure on
education and health and housing. these areas would ''have to
be faced'', he emphasised. (end/ips/ro/oa/92)
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