From: wsargeant@igc.apc.org (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Ghana, authoritarianism gives way t'
Date: 25 Jul 92 17:11:20 GMT

/* Written 12:07 am  Jul 25, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "GHANA: AUTHORITARIANISM GIVES WAY T" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Asia, southern
Title: GHANA: AUTHORITARIANISM GIVES WAY TO PLURALISM


an inter press service feature

by ruby ofori

accra, jul 22 (ips) -- in just one year, since the lifting of
the ban on party politics, ghana's political landscape has
changed dramatically.

there are at least 10 registered parties, and a plethora
of opposition papers, eagerly denouncing unpopular government
policies and accusing top officials of corruption and
incompetence.

with presidential and parliamentary elections due
in november and december, the situation remains fluid with the
big unknown being whether president jerry rawlings will stand.

his mark on this west african country is deep and
controversial. as a young flt-lt, he led a populist, puritanical
coup in 1979 against a corrupt ruling class hastily punished by
firing-squad.

after presiding over general elections, he handed
power over to a civilian administration four months later only
to intervene again in 1981 in the ''second coming''.

although lifting the 11-year ban on plural politics last may,
rawlings has openly expressed his scorn for party politics
as the cause for the country's economic and moral ruin.

critics argue that the politicians have not had much of a
chance. since independence in 1957, and the removal of president
kwame nkrumah nine-years later, civilians have only governed for
a total of four-years, interspersed with six coups.

rawling's rule under the provisional national defence council
(pndc) has been charecterised by prudent world bank-backed
economic management, and human rights abuse.

now, among ghana's 15 million people, politics is openly
discussed -- whether or not rawlings should go, what the
old-guard politicians have to offer -- something that would have
been impossible in the past. (more/ips)


ghana: authoritarianism (2)

but the new freedom has its limitations. a newspaper owner
is serving 18 months in jail for libel after accusing rawling's
first regime of embezzlement, while a journalist from the
state-owned news agency was sacked for leaking a public apology
by rawlings for the deaths of those killed in the chaos of the
early years of the ''revolution''.

''had it been overthrown in its first three years the
government would have gone down as the worst in ghana's history.
more people were killed and more ran away than at any period
before'', albert adu-boahen, presidential hopeful for the
national patriotic party (npp), told ips.

a consequence of rawling's stifling authoritarian rule was
what he termed, in a fit of despair, as ''the culture of
silence''. but pressure for political change, despite the risks,
was brewing triggered by adu-boahan claims, by a series of
lectures he gave in 1988.

''people desire a change for its own sake'', says yaw manu, a
senior political science lecturer at the university of ghana,
legon.

the pndc responded with its own agenda of an ''evolving
democratic system'' of a ''no-party'' form, without a timetable,
to bypass the entrenched party networks which the old
politicians had kept alive throughout the years of military
rule.

''but it did not come about that way'', says manu. what
stopped them was the international donor community. ''the imf
(international monetary fund) and world bank made no bones about
their desire to see a democratic order put in place as a
condition for getting support'', he notes.

''we said to the pndc that we believed that ghana should be
ruled by the leaders that are chosen by the people'', a british
diplomat told ips.

the pressures on rawlings to reform led in 1990 to national
debate on the country's political future. the opposition
responded by forming the movement for freedom and justice (mfj),
a coalition of left and right-wing organisations to broaden the
debate and campaign for restoration of multiparty democracy.

''the mfj emboldened people to come out'', says adu-boahen,
one of the movement's leaders, and over the next 18 months mfj's
demands for the repeal of repressive laws, the release of
political detainees and amnesty for exiles were granted.

when in march this year rawlings announced the timetable for
elections, three distinct political groupings had emerged.
(more/ips)


ghana: authoritarianism (3)

first there are the advocates of nkrumahism, euphemistically
called the ''family''. it is deeply divided with at least five
parties each claiming to be the true heir of the pan-africanist,
socialist ideals of kwame nkrumah. the splits are along
generational and personal lines.

in the second camp stand the npp, whose major flaw is their
strong traditional roots in ashanti nationalism. adu-boahen
hails from the ashanti eastern region but says the ashanti
label is a ''red herring propagated by a few individuals within
the hierarchy''.

another feature of the campaigns especially within the better
organised npp has been its wealthy businessmen-politicians
penchant for ''greasing palms and dishing out money for
individuals to campaign for them'', notes manu.

in the third camp are two divided pro-pndc groups, the eagle
party and the national democratic congress. air vice-marshall
nii ashley-lassen made a suprising comment in may when he
claimed the pndc would stop the electoral process if it sensed
impending defeat at the ballot box.

the next four weeks will be a period of shifting alliances
and wheeling-dealing as party bosses try to consolidate their
bases. adu-boahen says the chatoic picture is ''part and parcel
of the multiparty system of government''.

if, as is widely expected, rawlings stands, the opposition
will unite to field only one presidential and one vice-
presidential candidate, says boahen. it is believed the pndc's
centrist populism will attract a lot of former nkrumahists and
might lead to an eclipse of the nkrumahist parties.

ideological politics ended in 1966 with the overthrow of
nkrumah, says manu. the only real differences now between the
parties are allegiances to personalities and the party founders.

''we've been impressed by the sophistication in government
and political parties, after 10 years they've come back in a
business-like way'', says the british diplomat.

but he warned that if the elections were tainted with
suspicions of fraud, ''the donors would consider carefully
whether to give their support to the new government. the same
would apply to a military coup''.(end/ips/ro/oa/92)