Dec 2,2008
By Kofi Akordor
The final lap in any distance event in athletics is the most crucial. That is what determines victory or defeat. Usually, at the starter’s gun, some, as part of their strategy, sprint into the lead and maintain the momentum to victory at the finishing line. Not always does that strategy work to plan, because some, in their determination to keep the lead, over-exert themselves and burn their reserve energies, ending the race far behind.
For others, it is a slow start and a gradual build-up as the race progresses and with a last minute burst powered by conserved energy, victory is attained. Like the fast start strategy, the slow start is not necessarily the best at all times. Sometimes, quite against your expectation, the more you expect the other competitors to tire and burn out, the more they gallop and before you are aware, you have ended up where you began — last.
When it started, the race for the presidency and parliament looked too long to end soon, but so soon, we are close to the finishing line and whatever strategy the various candidates adopted, December 7 is just five days away and we all await to see those who will cross the finishing line with smiles on their faces, in Usain Bolt fashion, or those with contorted faces out of wasteful exhaustion.
In a world where polls are conducted on no serious scientific basis, it will be fallacious and self-deluding for any of the contesting parties or candidates to pin their hopes on any of the so-called opinion polls.
As should be expected, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), as the party in power, took off in whirlwind fashion and thereafter became the target of the other parties. Even the primaries to choose the flag bearer of the NPP was a spectacular exercise in itself, coming close to be like a process to elect the President of the Republic. When the chips were down and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo got the nod at the 2007 December Congress held at the University of Ghana, Legon, the party heavyweights quickly put the past, with all its acrimonies behind, and joined forces with Nana Akufo Addo, for the ultimate — the Presidency.
If resources and publicity alone could win elections, then I dare say the NPP had a great advantage that will be difficult to overturn. But as the saying goes, the race is not for the swift nor the sure, and so it will be foolhardiness to drop guard out of complacency and expect miracles to happen.
A party in power has its advantages of incumbency, including limitless resources, both in cash and kind, a powerful propaganda and publicity machinery, using both the print and electronic media. The NPP played its cards well in this regard. It battled the baggage of incumbency also. A governing party’s weaknesses, real or perceived, are hammered at at will. After all, the only way to oust a ruling in power is to say a lot about its failures, trying to rally round the masses on the general economic and social weaknesses in the system, which are always in abundance in a third world country like Ghana. The NPP was not spared its fair share of the whipping.
The NPP, however, found an escape valve. That is, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), had been in power before and so it was easy for the NPP to play the comparison game to soothe some of the pains of criticism.
That brings us to the campaign machinery of the NDC, which started slowly with Professor John Evans Atta-Mills’s door-to-door ‘I-Care’ strategy. The selection of a relatively younger John Dramani Mahama as his running mate brought some fire into the Atta-Mills’ campaign.
The firebrand of the party, in the person of its founder and former President J.J. Rawlings, was on course as usual, pulling huge crowds wherever he went even if some of his pronouncements sound controversial. The performance of the NDC, in all, had not been bad and this had heavily diluted any lead the NPP had at the start of the race. In fact, on December 7, the result can tilt either way, even though the ruling party has a slight edge.
Apart from the two leading parties, the party that made the most dramatic entry in the race was the rejuvenated Convention People’s Party (CPP), under the flagbearership of Dr Paa Kwasi Nduom, popularly known as the ‘Edwumawura’. There is no doubt that the CPP is going to eat into the fortunes of both the NPP and the NDC and should the polls move into a runoff, the CPP may hold the trump card.
The other presidential candidates, namely Dr Edward Mahama of the People’s National Convention (PNC); Mr Emmanuel Ansah-Antwi of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP); Mr T.N. Ward-Brew of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP); Mr Kwabena Adjei of the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD) and Mr Kwasi Amoafo Yeboah (Independent), are at best spicing the democratic gravy. They may only become a force to reckon with in the event of a runoff when their support could tilt the fortunes of eitherof the two major parties.
The campaigning itself has been very vigorous, sometimes acrimonious and on a few occasions bloody. The Electoral Commission (EC) has been battered from several angles by the various political parties, sometimes with some justification, . In some cases too, people were just seeing objects where there were no shadows.
It was easy to feel some desperation in the campaign messages of the parties, especially the NPP and the NDC, and it was not too difficult to understand why. The NDC has tasted power before and clearly understood the vast difference between being in power and outside it. The NPP is still enjoying fruits of political power and, therefore, could imagine what it would be like to return to the wilderness of opposition. All the parties have made so many promises that one wonders whether in four years time, there will be anything like poverty, disease, squalor, hunger and deprivation in this country.
All the actors, while preaching peaceful and transparent elections, sometimes go to the extreme trying to allay fears of members of the public. Just recently, a top police officer dropped guard when he told a listening public that the police would not hesitate to shoot to maim anyone trying to tamper with a ballot box. Even armed robbers are not to be shot unless under circumstances when the police are compelled to do so to defend themselves. So why shoot somebody who will be foolish enough to go and carry a whole ballot box to where only God knows?
Even though we have gone through the exercise of voting to elect our political leaders over the years without any serious breach of the peace, knowing ourselves very well, as a breed of people whose behaviour cannot be predicted, we are always suspicious of everything, thereby heightening tension unnecessarily. That also kept our religious leaders busy fasting and praying for peaceful elections.
Some latter-day prophets and prophetesses also are not to be left in the interesting game. They have already seen in their dreams (or were they hallucinations?) the winner of the presidential seat even before the first ballot could be cast.
It is the wish of every Ghanaian that our next election is conducted in a free, transparent and trouble-free environment. Wherever the verdict goes, we shall all be smiling while we read this column next week.
Friday, January 23, 2009
The day we missed Armageddon
December 9,2008
By Kofi Akordor
SOME of the allegations and rumours were not only wild, but so weird that one could wonder if they originated from human minds. There were rumours that there was to be a massive invasion of the country by foreigners to indulge in the country’s electoral process.
The government, apparently to prevent this, ordered the closure of the country’s borders. This action, if it was to give confidence to Ghanaians and to assure them that the sanctity of the electoral process cannot be compromised only added to the mounting tension and to heighten suspicion that there was a gigantic design to use state machinery in favour of one of the two candidates in the presidential run-off.
It was getting close to a precipice and there were stories of people relocating to their home towns before the ‘end time’. When polling day finally arrived, the atmosphere was so polluted that people started seeing evil in the eyes of others.
At Ashaiman, near Tema in the Greater Accra Region, rumours that some people were holing up in a hotel near a polling station with stuffed ballot boxes caused panic. When the police went into action, there were neither ballot boxes nor those who were supposed to be keeping them.
Again in Tema, a party executive was whisked away under heavy police escort because of rumours he was plotting to snatch ballot boxes away. This time, the police acted pre-emptively, but could there be any truth in that allegation? We might have just succeeded in creating more trouble for ourselves.
In the midst of all these, the Electoral Commission (EC), the National Election Security Task Force, the National Security Co-ordinator and the government kept on assuring Ghanaians that everything was under control and that there was no cause for alarm. As usual, the Ghanaian’s level of patience and tolerance was on full exhibition.
As I survey the unfolding turmoil on our political landscape, my mind went back to November, when over 300 million Americans went to the polls to elect a new person to replace President George W. Bush.
In a matter of hours, the elections were over and in less than 24 hours, Americans came to the realisation that Barrack Obama, the 47-year-old Senator from Illinois was going to be their next President and in effect, the most powerful leader in the whole wide world.
Sweet and simple, isn’t it? Senator John McCain, his challenger conceded defeat and congratulated him. President Bush congratulated him and offered to co-operate with him to ensure a smooth transition and handing over.
As you read this, President-elect Obama has virtually finished picking his working team, and it is a mix of Americans from all persuasions including Republicans. That is why Robert Gates remains the Defence Secretary. Victory for Obama was not a licence to plunder or share with friends and relatives.
It was an opportunity to put his vision into action and every material available in the US is there for his pick and utilisation to transform his dream into reality. That was why everything returned to normal, a day after the elections.
We go to the polls here as if we are at war and sometimes we are not able to hide our intentions and why we are desperate for political power. That is why we get polarised instead of focusing on national issues and determining who is best suited to give us the leadership we need for national development.
The apprehension and tension which engulfed the country were grounded on the history of the continent.
On December 27, 2007, Kenyans went to the polls. Everything went on smoothly until the declaration of the results. Then a peaceful country went into turmoil. The carnage that followed left at least 1,500 people dead, according official figures. But the extent of the mayhem was such that it was likely more people could not be accounted for.
Kenyans went to the polls to elect political leaders and not warriors. But should this otherwise national exercise which is a constitutional responsibility be exploited by power-hungry politicians to bring war among the people and divide them?
The case of Zimbabwe is now well-documented just as what happened in Cote d’Ivoire. We have not reached the other side of the river yet. However, we hope at the end of day, we will wake up firmly believing that we have elected a new President for the Republic.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
By Kofi Akordor
SOME of the allegations and rumours were not only wild, but so weird that one could wonder if they originated from human minds. There were rumours that there was to be a massive invasion of the country by foreigners to indulge in the country’s electoral process.
The government, apparently to prevent this, ordered the closure of the country’s borders. This action, if it was to give confidence to Ghanaians and to assure them that the sanctity of the electoral process cannot be compromised only added to the mounting tension and to heighten suspicion that there was a gigantic design to use state machinery in favour of one of the two candidates in the presidential run-off.
It was getting close to a precipice and there were stories of people relocating to their home towns before the ‘end time’. When polling day finally arrived, the atmosphere was so polluted that people started seeing evil in the eyes of others.
At Ashaiman, near Tema in the Greater Accra Region, rumours that some people were holing up in a hotel near a polling station with stuffed ballot boxes caused panic. When the police went into action, there were neither ballot boxes nor those who were supposed to be keeping them.
Again in Tema, a party executive was whisked away under heavy police escort because of rumours he was plotting to snatch ballot boxes away. This time, the police acted pre-emptively, but could there be any truth in that allegation? We might have just succeeded in creating more trouble for ourselves.
In the midst of all these, the Electoral Commission (EC), the National Election Security Task Force, the National Security Co-ordinator and the government kept on assuring Ghanaians that everything was under control and that there was no cause for alarm. As usual, the Ghanaian’s level of patience and tolerance was on full exhibition.
As I survey the unfolding turmoil on our political landscape, my mind went back to November, when over 300 million Americans went to the polls to elect a new person to replace President George W. Bush.
In a matter of hours, the elections were over and in less than 24 hours, Americans came to the realisation that Barrack Obama, the 47-year-old Senator from Illinois was going to be their next President and in effect, the most powerful leader in the whole wide world.
Sweet and simple, isn’t it? Senator John McCain, his challenger conceded defeat and congratulated him. President Bush congratulated him and offered to co-operate with him to ensure a smooth transition and handing over.
As you read this, President-elect Obama has virtually finished picking his working team, and it is a mix of Americans from all persuasions including Republicans. That is why Robert Gates remains the Defence Secretary. Victory for Obama was not a licence to plunder or share with friends and relatives.
It was an opportunity to put his vision into action and every material available in the US is there for his pick and utilisation to transform his dream into reality. That was why everything returned to normal, a day after the elections.
We go to the polls here as if we are at war and sometimes we are not able to hide our intentions and why we are desperate for political power. That is why we get polarised instead of focusing on national issues and determining who is best suited to give us the leadership we need for national development.
The apprehension and tension which engulfed the country were grounded on the history of the continent.
On December 27, 2007, Kenyans went to the polls. Everything went on smoothly until the declaration of the results. Then a peaceful country went into turmoil. The carnage that followed left at least 1,500 people dead, according official figures. But the extent of the mayhem was such that it was likely more people could not be accounted for.
Kenyans went to the polls to elect political leaders and not warriors. But should this otherwise national exercise which is a constitutional responsibility be exploited by power-hungry politicians to bring war among the people and divide them?
The case of Zimbabwe is now well-documented just as what happened in Cote d’Ivoire. We have not reached the other side of the river yet. However, we hope at the end of day, we will wake up firmly believing that we have elected a new President for the Republic.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
The Hit List
By Kofi Akordor
The culture of political campaigning is almost the same everywhere. It is the time politicians make a lot of promises most of which are never fulfilled or were not meant to be fulfilled. It is also a period when various allegations are levelled against opponents to weaken them and reduce their chances of winning the elections.
It is almost an acceptable norm that governments in power are particularly criticised for bad performance and everything that goes with that – corruption, unemployment, nepotism, incompetence, maladministration and many others are amplified to the highest decibel.
It is also a normal practice for governments seeking re-election to extol their virtues if even the positive changes they are hammering on were restricted to the fortunes of top government officials, their relatives, friends and a few party loyalists.
There is also the fear theory. This is to create a scenario of fear and insecurity the electorate should expect under a particular administration. This theory is fuelled by threats of victimisation, loss of jobs and prestige, project denials, national chaos and instability and in extreme and desperate situations, death, should the electorate vote in a particular way That is the game of politics.
By some strange coincidence, Ghana shares electoral calendar with the United States of America. They both elect their presidents in the same year, except that the US holds its presidential elections in November, a month earlier than Ghana.
All the ingredients found in the political game featured in the US elections, from the primaries to pick the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to the national to elect the next president of the US. There were the smears, mudslinging, trading of accusations and the throwing of the searchlight on George W. Bush’s administration which did not score high marks among most Americans.
They also had their fair share of the fear theory. Already waging two useless and senseless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans could not imagine how their world will be if they should vote for John MaCain, who had very little to separate him from the outgoing President George W. Bush.
Americans, of course, see politics as a serious business and not a battlefield to slaughter one another. The contestants made their promises but not in vain, knowing very well that the electorates are very sophisticated and will, therefore, hold them to their word at the appropriate time. They also do not just listen to promises; they question the capacity and capability of the person making the promise and how reliable that person was to fulfil them.
When the Americans finally settled on Barrack Obama, they might have done so for good reasons. They have a collapsed economy to rebuild. The global credit crunch took a heavy toll on the world’s biggest economy. America’s image as the world’s sole superpower had received a severe dent and its war-mongering posture had been condemned world-wide.
Many Americans may not want to see their children sent to war in Iran or North Korea and with George W. Bush’s war in Iraq and Afghanistan as a guide, chose Barrack Obama, a man who spoke against those wars. At least he represents a new image for America. He is relatively young and brilliant. He comes from a modest family and is of a mixed race (Black and White) and, therefore, fresh on the market.
At the time Barrack Obama was campaigning for the White House, we were also having our political campaigns here. We did everything the Americans did. But in all cases, we went into the extreme. We threw mud at each other freely. We were insulting and we said things about our opponents we knew very well were lies.
The government was loudest, saying very good things about itself, sometimes as if there was nothing good about this country until it came to power. We saw nothing good about previous administrations and we could not give credit for the good things we came to inherit.
The promises were in abundance and they were coming from all angles. Here, unlike America, we make promises with the hope that with time, the electorates will forget them. Thank God, there is a gradual awakening and governments cannot run away with empty promises.
There was also the fear or scare commodity. In 2000, it was widely rumoured that the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was then in power was so enamoured with power that it might cause havoc if it should lose the elections. It, therefore, became a campaign strategy that in order to maintain the peace and stability of the nation, the then NDC presidential candidate, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, should be given the nod.
Of course, when people are fed up with a system, they are prepared to make sacrifices to effect a change. So the change came, notwithstanding threats of chaos and violence.
In 2008, the scaremongering came, albeit in a more vicious form. It started when Pastor Mensa Otabil, a popular motivational speaker and evangelist, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, another popular evangelist, Mrs Justice Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu, the judge who convicted Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) on June 18, 2008, and a few others, who claimed they had received death threats through text messages sent to them. And the message was that they would be eliminated should the NDC win the elections and come to power.
The issue even became more intriguing when the victims of the so-called threats claimed the messages were sent from an e-mail address bearing the name of former President J.J. Rawlings. Can you believe that anyone planning such a horrendous enterprise will not only leave a trail but virtually make a public announcement informing his would-be victims of his criminal intentions?
Those behind what I see as a gigantic scam chose Mrs Mensah-Bonsu because of the role she played in Tsatsu Tsikata’s conviction and which can make her a target of aggrieved supporters of Tsikata. The popular evangelists were chosen because they command large followings and their withdrawal of support for the NDC in solidarity with their leaders will constitute a big reduction in that party’s votes.
Soon the number on what became known as the Hit List started to swell to include more pastors and evangelists who have large following in the country, musicians, especially those who openly associated with Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaign, almost all the ministers in former President Kufuor’s government and New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentarians, media people, including those who spend all their time talking on the radio and television or writing scandalous things in the newspapers.
The list continued to grow and those who joined included people in business, intellectuals and other professional groups. Soon, it became fashionable for any person to wake up and declare publicly that he or she had received death threats via text message or phone call.
The scam operators became so unscientific or is it unreasonable that they continued to add more names, including those who could be described as nonentities until it became obvious that the hatchet men who are going to do the elimination will need expert advice from Rwanda, where the Hutu warriors succeeded in massacring over 900,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a 90-day killing orgy in 1994.
The fear theory failed because the longer the list, the more the deceit was exposed and the more the potency of the expected fear the hit list was to invoke among the people diluted.
Well, just as it happened in 2000, Ghanaians went to the polls for the second time on December 28, 2008 and it was like majority of them preferred to die than remain with a system they were tired and fed up with.
The change did come. All the pastors who claimed they had received death threats are going about freely doing their pastoral work and evangelising to those who care to listen to them. The media people are still talking and writing, some with greater vigour. The musicians are still pumping their sweet and inspirational songs into our system.
The business people, including some of the endangered species, have started sending congratulatory messages to President Mills. Some have even met the President in person at the Castle.
On Inauguration Day, almost all those on the hit list including the clergy, were at the Independence Square to witness the swearing-in of Professor John Evans Atta Mills as President of the Republic. Any lessons?
When we reflect over the events of December, 2008, we ponder to ask; where did the Hit List originate? Why did those so-called Men of God fail us miserably by not denouncing that dubious list which most of them knew very well could not be true? At what point did we lose our sanity to come up with a hit list that defies all logic? Should we be so hungry for political power that we can paint a heinous picture of our opponents as sadists, beasts, megalomaniacs and murderers and thereby create such panic and fear among the citizenry?
Those who underrate the power of the human mind and natural intelligence have a lot to learn from the story of the hit list. There are very simple and effective ways of drawing sympathy and convincing people to your side. You only have to look for them. You do not need to put the fear of the Lord in them to win their support. Thank God, we are alive, hit list or no hit list.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
The culture of political campaigning is almost the same everywhere. It is the time politicians make a lot of promises most of which are never fulfilled or were not meant to be fulfilled. It is also a period when various allegations are levelled against opponents to weaken them and reduce their chances of winning the elections.
It is almost an acceptable norm that governments in power are particularly criticised for bad performance and everything that goes with that – corruption, unemployment, nepotism, incompetence, maladministration and many others are amplified to the highest decibel.
It is also a normal practice for governments seeking re-election to extol their virtues if even the positive changes they are hammering on were restricted to the fortunes of top government officials, their relatives, friends and a few party loyalists.
There is also the fear theory. This is to create a scenario of fear and insecurity the electorate should expect under a particular administration. This theory is fuelled by threats of victimisation, loss of jobs and prestige, project denials, national chaos and instability and in extreme and desperate situations, death, should the electorate vote in a particular way That is the game of politics.
By some strange coincidence, Ghana shares electoral calendar with the United States of America. They both elect their presidents in the same year, except that the US holds its presidential elections in November, a month earlier than Ghana.
All the ingredients found in the political game featured in the US elections, from the primaries to pick the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to the national to elect the next president of the US. There were the smears, mudslinging, trading of accusations and the throwing of the searchlight on George W. Bush’s administration which did not score high marks among most Americans.
They also had their fair share of the fear theory. Already waging two useless and senseless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans could not imagine how their world will be if they should vote for John MaCain, who had very little to separate him from the outgoing President George W. Bush.
Americans, of course, see politics as a serious business and not a battlefield to slaughter one another. The contestants made their promises but not in vain, knowing very well that the electorates are very sophisticated and will, therefore, hold them to their word at the appropriate time. They also do not just listen to promises; they question the capacity and capability of the person making the promise and how reliable that person was to fulfil them.
When the Americans finally settled on Barrack Obama, they might have done so for good reasons. They have a collapsed economy to rebuild. The global credit crunch took a heavy toll on the world’s biggest economy. America’s image as the world’s sole superpower had received a severe dent and its war-mongering posture had been condemned world-wide.
Many Americans may not want to see their children sent to war in Iran or North Korea and with George W. Bush’s war in Iraq and Afghanistan as a guide, chose Barrack Obama, a man who spoke against those wars. At least he represents a new image for America. He is relatively young and brilliant. He comes from a modest family and is of a mixed race (Black and White) and, therefore, fresh on the market.
At the time Barrack Obama was campaigning for the White House, we were also having our political campaigns here. We did everything the Americans did. But in all cases, we went into the extreme. We threw mud at each other freely. We were insulting and we said things about our opponents we knew very well were lies.
The government was loudest, saying very good things about itself, sometimes as if there was nothing good about this country until it came to power. We saw nothing good about previous administrations and we could not give credit for the good things we came to inherit.
The promises were in abundance and they were coming from all angles. Here, unlike America, we make promises with the hope that with time, the electorates will forget them. Thank God, there is a gradual awakening and governments cannot run away with empty promises.
There was also the fear or scare commodity. In 2000, it was widely rumoured that the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was then in power was so enamoured with power that it might cause havoc if it should lose the elections. It, therefore, became a campaign strategy that in order to maintain the peace and stability of the nation, the then NDC presidential candidate, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, should be given the nod.
Of course, when people are fed up with a system, they are prepared to make sacrifices to effect a change. So the change came, notwithstanding threats of chaos and violence.
In 2008, the scaremongering came, albeit in a more vicious form. It started when Pastor Mensa Otabil, a popular motivational speaker and evangelist, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, another popular evangelist, Mrs Justice Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu, the judge who convicted Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) on June 18, 2008, and a few others, who claimed they had received death threats through text messages sent to them. And the message was that they would be eliminated should the NDC win the elections and come to power.
The issue even became more intriguing when the victims of the so-called threats claimed the messages were sent from an e-mail address bearing the name of former President J.J. Rawlings. Can you believe that anyone planning such a horrendous enterprise will not only leave a trail but virtually make a public announcement informing his would-be victims of his criminal intentions?
Those behind what I see as a gigantic scam chose Mrs Mensah-Bonsu because of the role she played in Tsatsu Tsikata’s conviction and which can make her a target of aggrieved supporters of Tsikata. The popular evangelists were chosen because they command large followings and their withdrawal of support for the NDC in solidarity with their leaders will constitute a big reduction in that party’s votes.
Soon the number on what became known as the Hit List started to swell to include more pastors and evangelists who have large following in the country, musicians, especially those who openly associated with Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaign, almost all the ministers in former President Kufuor’s government and New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentarians, media people, including those who spend all their time talking on the radio and television or writing scandalous things in the newspapers.
The list continued to grow and those who joined included people in business, intellectuals and other professional groups. Soon, it became fashionable for any person to wake up and declare publicly that he or she had received death threats via text message or phone call.
The scam operators became so unscientific or is it unreasonable that they continued to add more names, including those who could be described as nonentities until it became obvious that the hatchet men who are going to do the elimination will need expert advice from Rwanda, where the Hutu warriors succeeded in massacring over 900,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a 90-day killing orgy in 1994.
The fear theory failed because the longer the list, the more the deceit was exposed and the more the potency of the expected fear the hit list was to invoke among the people diluted.
Well, just as it happened in 2000, Ghanaians went to the polls for the second time on December 28, 2008 and it was like majority of them preferred to die than remain with a system they were tired and fed up with.
The change did come. All the pastors who claimed they had received death threats are going about freely doing their pastoral work and evangelising to those who care to listen to them. The media people are still talking and writing, some with greater vigour. The musicians are still pumping their sweet and inspirational songs into our system.
The business people, including some of the endangered species, have started sending congratulatory messages to President Mills. Some have even met the President in person at the Castle.
On Inauguration Day, almost all those on the hit list including the clergy, were at the Independence Square to witness the swearing-in of Professor John Evans Atta Mills as President of the Republic. Any lessons?
When we reflect over the events of December, 2008, we ponder to ask; where did the Hit List originate? Why did those so-called Men of God fail us miserably by not denouncing that dubious list which most of them knew very well could not be true? At what point did we lose our sanity to come up with a hit list that defies all logic? Should we be so hungry for political power that we can paint a heinous picture of our opponents as sadists, beasts, megalomaniacs and murderers and thereby create such panic and fear among the citizenry?
Those who underrate the power of the human mind and natural intelligence have a lot to learn from the story of the hit list. There are very simple and effective ways of drawing sympathy and convincing people to your side. You only have to look for them. You do not need to put the fear of the Lord in them to win their support. Thank God, we are alive, hit list or no hit list.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
PRESIDENTIAL HANDOVER NOTES (JANUARY 13)
BY now President John Evans Atta Mills is busily poring over a voluminous set of handover notes in the Executive Office of the Golden Jubilee House. He is likely to find in those notes briefs on government business, both finished and unfinished, the state of national security, loans contracted or due to be contracted and many others that will guide him in his new role as the President of the Republic.
I will not be surprised if former President J. A. Kufuor were to bare his heart to his successor and admit in his handover notes some of the promises he made but which he could not fulfil during his tenure. Promises are common on political platforms and are even tolerated sometimes even though the electorates who are expected to be beneficiaries of such promises may be sceptical and doubtful about their being fulfilled.
How do you conduct a political campaign geared towards wining the votes of the people in order to gain political power without making promises? There are always promises for job creation, new roads, expanded and modern educational facilities, more and better health facilities and many more. Some of these are made in the euphoria of the moment, while others are well-thought-out and may be part of a party’s manifesto. And so, as the promises flow, the crowd will cheer, regardless of whether they are realistic and practicable or not.
Former President Kufuor and his government made their fair share of promises and in fairness to his administration, some of them have been fulfilled, either fully or partially. They include the Bui Hydroelectric Dam Project, repeal of the criminal libel law and the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme to cover the whole nation.
There are many others, which for several reasons never took off. It could be that, at the time those promises were being made, the true picture of the projects were not well captured and, therefore, their magnitude and financial implications were taken for granted.
One project dear to my heart and I believe that of many Ghanaians and our northern neighbours in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali that was promised by former President Kufuor but which we dearly missed was the Accra-Paga railway project.
A railway linking Accra with northern Ghana would have brought a major change in the socio-economic development of this country. It would have made easier and cheaper, the transportation of goods and persons between the extreme geographical ends of the country. But of greater economic benefit to the country would have been the improvement in trade between Ghana and the Sahelian countries up north that have to channel their imports and exports through our ports. It could also have contributed immensely to sub-regional integration.
We were not told what prevented former President Kufuor from meeting that target. We can only guess that the reasons may be financial and technical. I did not hear President Mills making any promise to build a railway linking the south and the north, but I will suggest that in view of the strategic importance of such a project, both economically and socially, he should give it a serious attention.
There was another project that never took off. That was the James Town Fishing Harbour promised the fishermen of that community in Accra. As part of his last days in office, and in an apparent attempt to bolster Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidential ambitions, former President Kufuor went round the country cutting sods for the commencement of various projects.
The James Town Fishing Harbour project was one of them. We do not know whether funds have been solicited for these projects, but it is a burden President Mills has to carry. It is only accidental that former President Kufuor may take the credit or at least share in it, if the Mills administration succeeds in bringing them to fruition.
The James Town Fishing Harbour, as well as the landing sites and storage facilities promised the various fishing communities by the previous administration is very important and President Mills, knowing where he is coming from and his support base among the fishing communities, will do well to meet their demands.
One major project that was never inaugurated by former President Kufuor and which remains a mystery is the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange. This was a project that was intended to ease traffic around that part of the city and add to the beauty of the capital city. But many Ghanaians realised disappointingly that none of the two major objectives was met.
Instead of easing traffic, the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange has become a huge jungle where motorists are constantly fighting for survival into and out of Accra. In the midst of the confusion, nothing beautiful could come out of the interchange. Maybe that explains why the former President, while he found time to open a shopping mall situated on the neck of the interchange, could not perform the official inauguration of the facility.
As things stand now, President Mills will have to assemble a team of road engineers to redesign the interchange to conform to 21st century designs and demands and to look for funding for the reconstruction of the interchange so that it can assume the physical character it was originally intended to.
If President Mills looks through the handover notes critically, he will notice that a road yet to be constructed has been named after President George W. Bush of the US. That is the Tetteh-Quarshie-Mallam Junction road, which is to be reconstructed into a dual-carriageway to be funded from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
The sod-cutting ceremony for this project received a lot of media attention and it is only obvious to expect that Ghanaians will like to see it completed as early as possible. There are many other road projects that have been scratched without completion and the new administration will have to see to their early completion.
There are outstanding bills to pay, which include moneys owed contractors who worked on government projects and the Ghana@50 jubilee projects, some of which were never executed but were captured in the jubilee budget.
As President Mills goes through the handover notes, he will notice that many of the promises made on campaign platforms could not be fulfilled and that should remind him of his own promises, which will very soon be staring him in the face as he settles down for serious business.
There are many other outstanding matters that as the days roll by will be brought to the attention of President Mills and his team. In the meantime, this column welcomes the President to the hot seat and wishes him well.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
I will not be surprised if former President J. A. Kufuor were to bare his heart to his successor and admit in his handover notes some of the promises he made but which he could not fulfil during his tenure. Promises are common on political platforms and are even tolerated sometimes even though the electorates who are expected to be beneficiaries of such promises may be sceptical and doubtful about their being fulfilled.
How do you conduct a political campaign geared towards wining the votes of the people in order to gain political power without making promises? There are always promises for job creation, new roads, expanded and modern educational facilities, more and better health facilities and many more. Some of these are made in the euphoria of the moment, while others are well-thought-out and may be part of a party’s manifesto. And so, as the promises flow, the crowd will cheer, regardless of whether they are realistic and practicable or not.
Former President Kufuor and his government made their fair share of promises and in fairness to his administration, some of them have been fulfilled, either fully or partially. They include the Bui Hydroelectric Dam Project, repeal of the criminal libel law and the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme to cover the whole nation.
There are many others, which for several reasons never took off. It could be that, at the time those promises were being made, the true picture of the projects were not well captured and, therefore, their magnitude and financial implications were taken for granted.
One project dear to my heart and I believe that of many Ghanaians and our northern neighbours in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali that was promised by former President Kufuor but which we dearly missed was the Accra-Paga railway project.
A railway linking Accra with northern Ghana would have brought a major change in the socio-economic development of this country. It would have made easier and cheaper, the transportation of goods and persons between the extreme geographical ends of the country. But of greater economic benefit to the country would have been the improvement in trade between Ghana and the Sahelian countries up north that have to channel their imports and exports through our ports. It could also have contributed immensely to sub-regional integration.
We were not told what prevented former President Kufuor from meeting that target. We can only guess that the reasons may be financial and technical. I did not hear President Mills making any promise to build a railway linking the south and the north, but I will suggest that in view of the strategic importance of such a project, both economically and socially, he should give it a serious attention.
There was another project that never took off. That was the James Town Fishing Harbour promised the fishermen of that community in Accra. As part of his last days in office, and in an apparent attempt to bolster Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidential ambitions, former President Kufuor went round the country cutting sods for the commencement of various projects.
The James Town Fishing Harbour project was one of them. We do not know whether funds have been solicited for these projects, but it is a burden President Mills has to carry. It is only accidental that former President Kufuor may take the credit or at least share in it, if the Mills administration succeeds in bringing them to fruition.
The James Town Fishing Harbour, as well as the landing sites and storage facilities promised the various fishing communities by the previous administration is very important and President Mills, knowing where he is coming from and his support base among the fishing communities, will do well to meet their demands.
One major project that was never inaugurated by former President Kufuor and which remains a mystery is the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange. This was a project that was intended to ease traffic around that part of the city and add to the beauty of the capital city. But many Ghanaians realised disappointingly that none of the two major objectives was met.
Instead of easing traffic, the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange has become a huge jungle where motorists are constantly fighting for survival into and out of Accra. In the midst of the confusion, nothing beautiful could come out of the interchange. Maybe that explains why the former President, while he found time to open a shopping mall situated on the neck of the interchange, could not perform the official inauguration of the facility.
As things stand now, President Mills will have to assemble a team of road engineers to redesign the interchange to conform to 21st century designs and demands and to look for funding for the reconstruction of the interchange so that it can assume the physical character it was originally intended to.
If President Mills looks through the handover notes critically, he will notice that a road yet to be constructed has been named after President George W. Bush of the US. That is the Tetteh-Quarshie-Mallam Junction road, which is to be reconstructed into a dual-carriageway to be funded from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
The sod-cutting ceremony for this project received a lot of media attention and it is only obvious to expect that Ghanaians will like to see it completed as early as possible. There are many other road projects that have been scratched without completion and the new administration will have to see to their early completion.
There are outstanding bills to pay, which include moneys owed contractors who worked on government projects and the Ghana@50 jubilee projects, some of which were never executed but were captured in the jubilee budget.
As President Mills goes through the handover notes, he will notice that many of the promises made on campaign platforms could not be fulfilled and that should remind him of his own promises, which will very soon be staring him in the face as he settles down for serious business.
There are many other outstanding matters that as the days roll by will be brought to the attention of President Mills and his team. In the meantime, this column welcomes the President to the hot seat and wishes him well.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 11, 2009
THE STORM IS OVER (JANUARY 6, 2009)
IN 2000, then President J. J. Rawlings campaigned vigorously for Professor John Evans Atta Mills, his chosen successor. That was when he was at the peak of his power and glory.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) campaign trail, with a large fleet of powerful four-wheel drive vehicles criss-crossing the country, was more of a road show. At that time, the campaign message was ‘Continuity’, as the NDC credited itself with the economic and social transformation of the country.
Cash and logistics were not in short supply and so blistering and powerful were the campaign and the dominance of the then President Rawlings on the nation’s political landscape that there was no question about victory. If there were any doubts, then it was about how many votes the party was going to garner to transfer power from Rawlings to Prof Mills.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its flag bearer, Mr J. A. Kufuor, were, on the other hand, scraping the patchy earth for resources to effect their campaign. Their signboards were virtually invisible and the few campaign vehicles were overstretched. The campaign message was ‘Positive Change’, but the battlefield was a typical David and Goliath affair.
Even before the nation went to battle on December 7, 2000, the cracks started to show in the NDC when a youthful group under the name the National Reform Party (NRP) broke away on matters of principle about the manner the flag bearer of the party was chosen. The NDC was so confident of its support base that it made very little effort to bring back the NRP rebels into its fold.
The jolt came and with that the realisation that politics is, after all, about numbers and not mere slogans and campaign rhetoric when the first results of the December 7, 2000 polls started to arrive. In the end, the NDC lost the elections. It saw its parliamentary strength whittled down from 133, which it had won in 1996, to 92. Its presidential candidate, Prof Mills, trailed the NPP’s Kufuor with 44 per cent of the votes, while the latter had 48 per cent to call for a re-run.
Some of the top NDC members were so shocked that they never recovered enough to go into battle for the run-off. In the run-off, Kufuor polled 56 per cent of the votes to succeed Rawlings as Ghana’s second President in the Fourth Republic.
Straight away, it was obvious that complacency and somehow arrogance of power had played big roles in the NDC’s defeat, not discounting the fact that many Ghanaians were just tired of seeing the same faces on the television screens and in the newspapers for almost 20 years.
The fortunes of the NDC did not improve very much during the 2004 elections. There were internal jostling in an attempt to replace Prof Mills as the presidential candidate. There were those who felt he had not got the charisma and stature to be a good replacement for Rawlings whose popularity was unparalleled. Others saw him as a newcomer whose roots in the party had not developed yet.
The Legon Congress to elect a flag bearer recorded some broken bones, squeezing of balls and sprinkling of a few pints of blood. Even though Dr Kwesi Botchway looked more appealing to some of the younger generation, Rawlings’ authority and dominance prevailed and Prof Mills got the mandate for another try.
The seeds of acrimony planted at the Legon Congress germinated and followed the NDC into the 2004 elections and defeat was obvious, as Prof Mills was left without the spiritual, physical and financial support of people like Dr Obed Asamoah, who was then the Chairman of the party. It managed only 94 seats in an expanded Parliament of 230 seats.
The death knell was sounding and it was only a matter of time before the great umbrella party crumbled, so many, especially the ruling NPP, thought.
The Koforidua Congress held in the early part of 2006 to elect national officers brought more division into the party which saw the breaking away of another faction led by Dr Obed Asamoah, who lost his bid for the chairmanship, to form the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP).
The party went ahead to elect Prof Mills at another congress at Legon as its flag bearer. Those who contested him were Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah and Mr Eddie Annan. From then on, the party regained its lost confidence and started a slow return to prominence which was not noticed by the ruling NPP.
The 2008 elections saw a replay of the 2000 scenario, with shifting of positions. The NPP is now in power and campaigned virtually on the message of continuity since, throughout the campaign, the chorus was to continue with the good works of the Kufuor Administration. The slogan, ‘Moving Forward’, was quite catchy and the accompanying songs were very sweet to the ear. But as the NPP will soon realise, it takes more than beautiful slogans and sweet songs to win elections.
The war chest was bountiful and other logistics were in abundance. The billboards were huge, well illuminated and visible everywhere. What was lacking was a critical mind to do fair and objective analysis of the real situation on the ground.
The party did everything it needed to do in the form of media attention, both in print and electronically. It engaged a bunch of media men who saturated the media with praise-singing and mudslinging but it failed to put its ears on the ground.
Its presidential candidate was fed with what it wanted to hear — that there was no challenger and that Nana was the number one choice of Ghanaians. The battle cry was, therefore, One Touch. There was some divine twist when Nana Akufo-Addo’s name appeared on the number one spot on the ballot.
What they failed to contend with, was an emerging culture in Ghana’s politics where people get fed up with governments after eight years. To say you are continuing with an outgoing President’s policies, to many, means old wine in a new barrel.
The National School Feeding Programme, the Capitation Grant and the National Health Insurance Scheme which were trump cards the NPP was playing did not make any impression on many, especially the first two.
The NDC’s message of ‘Change for a better Ghana’ was, as events have proved, more attractive to the majority of the people. When the results of the December 7, 2008 came, it was obvious that there was something dangerously amiss and the NPP was heading for defeat. It lost 20 of its parliamentary seats to the NDC.
The sod-cutting spree embarked upon by President Kufuor before the elections was negative. The sophisticated nature of the Ghanaian voter was seriously underrated.
The government, and for that matter the party, went panicky after the first round and compounded matters with certain decisions. The party fell into a neat trap when it reduced the prices of petroleum products, just when Prof Mills had announced that it would be his first major assignment. The release of convicted drivers did not look sincere and the setting up of a task force on pair trawling at a time when the main fishing season was over only exposed the desperation of the government and the party.
The announcement that some of the Ga-Dangme lands acquired by government had been released to their original owners and the picture of Ms Christine Churcher sprawling before fishermen on a beach begging for votes fuelled the suspicion that the appeal for votes was meant more for the personal aggrandisement of some people and not for the general interest of Ghanaians.
The worst came when a so-called hit list was fed into the system. It does not make any sense to tell Ghanaians that when the NDC comes to power it will eliminate some people, when it should have been the other way round. It would have sounded a bit more logical to say that those who frustrate NDC’s quest for power will suffer some reprisal.
The number and names of people on the hit list made the whole thing a mockery of natural intelligence and the NPP was never forgiven by the people of this country. The subsequent closure of the borders under flimsy excuses and the events after December 28, 2008 when some party members went to court did not add to the democratic credentials of the party.
That made many people to cast their minds back to 2000, when the NDC lost the elections. That was when Rawlings was the monarch of all that he surveyed and with his popularity still intact, he could have done anything.
It was even rumoured in those days that if the NDC had lost the election, it would not hand over. There were even threats that there would be mayhem should it lose the elections, so people were pleading that in order to save this nation, NDC should be retained in power.
Well, there was a smooth handing over, even though we were told that containers with souvenir items for the celebration of victory had arrived at the Tema Port. That was how the international community started to heap praises on Ghana’s determination to remain on course in her practice of democracy.
In 2004, even though the NDC cried foul and some of its leading members went to court over allegations of electoral malpractice, the nation never went through any trauma as witnessed on December 7 and 28, 2008 and January 2, 2009. Ghana’s democracy came to be appreciated by the world, and became a reference point for other African countries trying to chart a democratic path of governance.
In 2008, we came close to disaster and nearly eroded the confidence and respect we had won over the years. The difference is not lost on many Ghanaians and it will just be fair to advise that the NPP starts an immediate image-building exercise and prepare itself for 2012.
By now our politicians have started realising that they can indulge in all the noise-making, self-adulation and glorification but the real decision-makers will be waiting silently for the right time.
The NDC may not make a second a mistake, if it cares, and the NPP, should the opportunity come again, will do the right thing, instead of wasting resources on socio-political analysts and commentators who are nothing but a drain on its coffers. That is the strength of our democracy which is maturing every day.
The storm is over and now that Ghanaians have decided to change the vehicle and the driver, shall we, as one people, head towards the right direction?
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) campaign trail, with a large fleet of powerful four-wheel drive vehicles criss-crossing the country, was more of a road show. At that time, the campaign message was ‘Continuity’, as the NDC credited itself with the economic and social transformation of the country.
Cash and logistics were not in short supply and so blistering and powerful were the campaign and the dominance of the then President Rawlings on the nation’s political landscape that there was no question about victory. If there were any doubts, then it was about how many votes the party was going to garner to transfer power from Rawlings to Prof Mills.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its flag bearer, Mr J. A. Kufuor, were, on the other hand, scraping the patchy earth for resources to effect their campaign. Their signboards were virtually invisible and the few campaign vehicles were overstretched. The campaign message was ‘Positive Change’, but the battlefield was a typical David and Goliath affair.
Even before the nation went to battle on December 7, 2000, the cracks started to show in the NDC when a youthful group under the name the National Reform Party (NRP) broke away on matters of principle about the manner the flag bearer of the party was chosen. The NDC was so confident of its support base that it made very little effort to bring back the NRP rebels into its fold.
The jolt came and with that the realisation that politics is, after all, about numbers and not mere slogans and campaign rhetoric when the first results of the December 7, 2000 polls started to arrive. In the end, the NDC lost the elections. It saw its parliamentary strength whittled down from 133, which it had won in 1996, to 92. Its presidential candidate, Prof Mills, trailed the NPP’s Kufuor with 44 per cent of the votes, while the latter had 48 per cent to call for a re-run.
Some of the top NDC members were so shocked that they never recovered enough to go into battle for the run-off. In the run-off, Kufuor polled 56 per cent of the votes to succeed Rawlings as Ghana’s second President in the Fourth Republic.
Straight away, it was obvious that complacency and somehow arrogance of power had played big roles in the NDC’s defeat, not discounting the fact that many Ghanaians were just tired of seeing the same faces on the television screens and in the newspapers for almost 20 years.
The fortunes of the NDC did not improve very much during the 2004 elections. There were internal jostling in an attempt to replace Prof Mills as the presidential candidate. There were those who felt he had not got the charisma and stature to be a good replacement for Rawlings whose popularity was unparalleled. Others saw him as a newcomer whose roots in the party had not developed yet.
The Legon Congress to elect a flag bearer recorded some broken bones, squeezing of balls and sprinkling of a few pints of blood. Even though Dr Kwesi Botchway looked more appealing to some of the younger generation, Rawlings’ authority and dominance prevailed and Prof Mills got the mandate for another try.
The seeds of acrimony planted at the Legon Congress germinated and followed the NDC into the 2004 elections and defeat was obvious, as Prof Mills was left without the spiritual, physical and financial support of people like Dr Obed Asamoah, who was then the Chairman of the party. It managed only 94 seats in an expanded Parliament of 230 seats.
The death knell was sounding and it was only a matter of time before the great umbrella party crumbled, so many, especially the ruling NPP, thought.
The Koforidua Congress held in the early part of 2006 to elect national officers brought more division into the party which saw the breaking away of another faction led by Dr Obed Asamoah, who lost his bid for the chairmanship, to form the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP).
The party went ahead to elect Prof Mills at another congress at Legon as its flag bearer. Those who contested him were Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah and Mr Eddie Annan. From then on, the party regained its lost confidence and started a slow return to prominence which was not noticed by the ruling NPP.
The 2008 elections saw a replay of the 2000 scenario, with shifting of positions. The NPP is now in power and campaigned virtually on the message of continuity since, throughout the campaign, the chorus was to continue with the good works of the Kufuor Administration. The slogan, ‘Moving Forward’, was quite catchy and the accompanying songs were very sweet to the ear. But as the NPP will soon realise, it takes more than beautiful slogans and sweet songs to win elections.
The war chest was bountiful and other logistics were in abundance. The billboards were huge, well illuminated and visible everywhere. What was lacking was a critical mind to do fair and objective analysis of the real situation on the ground.
The party did everything it needed to do in the form of media attention, both in print and electronically. It engaged a bunch of media men who saturated the media with praise-singing and mudslinging but it failed to put its ears on the ground.
Its presidential candidate was fed with what it wanted to hear — that there was no challenger and that Nana was the number one choice of Ghanaians. The battle cry was, therefore, One Touch. There was some divine twist when Nana Akufo-Addo’s name appeared on the number one spot on the ballot.
What they failed to contend with, was an emerging culture in Ghana’s politics where people get fed up with governments after eight years. To say you are continuing with an outgoing President’s policies, to many, means old wine in a new barrel.
The National School Feeding Programme, the Capitation Grant and the National Health Insurance Scheme which were trump cards the NPP was playing did not make any impression on many, especially the first two.
The NDC’s message of ‘Change for a better Ghana’ was, as events have proved, more attractive to the majority of the people. When the results of the December 7, 2008 came, it was obvious that there was something dangerously amiss and the NPP was heading for defeat. It lost 20 of its parliamentary seats to the NDC.
The sod-cutting spree embarked upon by President Kufuor before the elections was negative. The sophisticated nature of the Ghanaian voter was seriously underrated.
The government, and for that matter the party, went panicky after the first round and compounded matters with certain decisions. The party fell into a neat trap when it reduced the prices of petroleum products, just when Prof Mills had announced that it would be his first major assignment. The release of convicted drivers did not look sincere and the setting up of a task force on pair trawling at a time when the main fishing season was over only exposed the desperation of the government and the party.
The announcement that some of the Ga-Dangme lands acquired by government had been released to their original owners and the picture of Ms Christine Churcher sprawling before fishermen on a beach begging for votes fuelled the suspicion that the appeal for votes was meant more for the personal aggrandisement of some people and not for the general interest of Ghanaians.
The worst came when a so-called hit list was fed into the system. It does not make any sense to tell Ghanaians that when the NDC comes to power it will eliminate some people, when it should have been the other way round. It would have sounded a bit more logical to say that those who frustrate NDC’s quest for power will suffer some reprisal.
The number and names of people on the hit list made the whole thing a mockery of natural intelligence and the NPP was never forgiven by the people of this country. The subsequent closure of the borders under flimsy excuses and the events after December 28, 2008 when some party members went to court did not add to the democratic credentials of the party.
That made many people to cast their minds back to 2000, when the NDC lost the elections. That was when Rawlings was the monarch of all that he surveyed and with his popularity still intact, he could have done anything.
It was even rumoured in those days that if the NDC had lost the election, it would not hand over. There were even threats that there would be mayhem should it lose the elections, so people were pleading that in order to save this nation, NDC should be retained in power.
Well, there was a smooth handing over, even though we were told that containers with souvenir items for the celebration of victory had arrived at the Tema Port. That was how the international community started to heap praises on Ghana’s determination to remain on course in her practice of democracy.
In 2004, even though the NDC cried foul and some of its leading members went to court over allegations of electoral malpractice, the nation never went through any trauma as witnessed on December 7 and 28, 2008 and January 2, 2009. Ghana’s democracy came to be appreciated by the world, and became a reference point for other African countries trying to chart a democratic path of governance.
In 2008, we came close to disaster and nearly eroded the confidence and respect we had won over the years. The difference is not lost on many Ghanaians and it will just be fair to advise that the NPP starts an immediate image-building exercise and prepare itself for 2012.
By now our politicians have started realising that they can indulge in all the noise-making, self-adulation and glorification but the real decision-makers will be waiting silently for the right time.
The NDC may not make a second a mistake, if it cares, and the NPP, should the opportunity come again, will do the right thing, instead of wasting resources on socio-political analysts and commentators who are nothing but a drain on its coffers. That is the strength of our democracy which is maturing every day.
The storm is over and now that Ghanaians have decided to change the vehicle and the driver, shall we, as one people, head towards the right direction?
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Memories of December
Memories of December 7
By Kofi Akordor
Ghanaians were heaping tonnes of praise on themselves. The foreign observer missions were profuse in their commendation at the turn of events on Sunday, December 7, 2008. All were unanimous — the presidential and parliamentary elections had been held in a peaceful atmosphere without any violence or intimidation and the outcome was a free and fair. Whether everything had been transparent could, however, not be told with any conviction.
The country succeeded in maintaining a record as one of the few countries on this turbulent continent called Africa where catapults, machetes, bows and arrows, guns and military armoured vehicles were not deployed into action to complete the unfinished business which the ballot box left undone.
We have emerged from a gruelling electioneering and energy sapping voting process with our national pride intact, even though one could not discount some disappointments and bruised or dented egos.
Sunday, December 7, 2008 is now history and we can only live with its memories, whether bitter or sweet and some useful lessons to guide us in similar endeavours in future. For the candidates/parties and their die-hard supporters, they must begin to realise that the saying; “All that glitters is not gold”, can have its equivalent on the political battlefield like; “All that crowd at political rallies do not transform into votes”. Otherwise, we would not have been subjected to another round of gruelling campaigning with its insults, lies and vain promises. The consolation is that it is our own decision to go for another round of the exercise so that at the end of the day the final choice will be our own and not an imposition from any quarter.
The two candidates — Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Professor John Evans Atta Mills — whose inability to cross the 50 per cent plus mark has forced us into the run-off may have to review their campaign strategies. By now it should have dawned on them that distributing fat wads of currency notes to so-called opinion leaders and king makers or bussing thousands of unemployed youth to rally grounds after pumping gallons of hard liquor into them will not do the trick when it matters most. As they always say, ‘it is our own money so if you bring it we shall collect it’.
They should address current problems confronting the people and focus more on their strengths than the perceived weaknesses of the opponent. Trying to undermine an opponent with lies and concocted stories only irritate the electorate and do not bring good returns on the D-day. Some of the adverts in both the print and electronic media are just waste of money and add to the subtractions.
Sometimes it is better they listen to their inner selves, instead of those hordes of advisers who may strip them naked without they knowing. Remember the story of the king with the beautiful cloth? He was told only his enemies would not see the wonderful cloth. In order not to be labelled as an enemy of the king, everybody saw the cloth until an innocent child pointed at the king’s nakedness. By then it was too late. The harm had been done. Once they know the cash is flowing, the advisers and special assistants will be at their best to give you all sorts of assurances and if you fail to put your ears on the ground you will wake up a day after the election laughing at the wrong side of your mouth.
For the party in power or the candidate contesting on the ruling party’s ticket, some of the promises do not make any impression on the electorate. They ask several questions which you may not hear, let alone try to answer. It becomes worse when, in a frenzy, we begin to initiate projects which we well know may never be completed. That amounts to insulting the intelligence of the electorate and they never forgive those who inflict such pain on them.
The use of the tribal or ethnic card can have its boomerang effects. While it may favour you in one area, it may work against you in another area. Moreover, it will be hypocritical to condemn ethnic bias when you think it is working against you but highlight it when you are in the gain. So it is wrong for any candidate to go to his area or home region and tell the people to vote for him because he is one of them and yet complain when the other candidate also makes a similar plea to his people. No President can govern a divided country and, therefore, the candidates must themselves be appealing to all sections of the public. Ethnic messages during campaigns have the potential of dividing the country.
The media received their fair share of praise and commendation from the observer teams that came to monitor the elections. They all concluded that the press is free and vibrant and contributed a lot in information dissemination before, during and after the elections.
In fact, the media played their watchdog role effectively and for this mention must be made of the FM radio stations which kept listeners glued to their radio sets throughout the voting process.
Media practitioners will, notwithstanding the high marks given them, be the first to admit that a lot of them contributed to the heightened tension which preceded the elections and which persisted throughout the exercise.
Some of the media practitioners became more or less propagandists for political parties and contesting candidates and threw the ethics of the profession to the wind in the process. If they do not know by now, some of the materials they release into the public domain do more damage to their clients than good.
The EC has come out again from another electoral process with good testimonials. It still has to improve upon its performance in the run-off. What many do not know is that what was seen as the EC’s good performance was actually a reflection of the patience and tolerance of Ghanaians. Electoral violence seldom occur during the voting. But that should not be taken for granted. It is the counting, collation and announcing of the results which give room for suspicion and trigger violence. This idea of counting, recounting and recounting of ballot papers must be checked.
The EC must also address the long queues which formed at some polling stations, as against the smaller number of voters at certain polling stations. When people stand for long hours in the tropical sun to vote, they are prone to anger at the least provocation and this can be compounded if there should be any electoral dispute.
The National Election Security Task Force has already made that observation and recommended the opening of more polling stations on December 28, 2008 for the run-off of the presidential elections. We hope the EC will listen to good advice.
Many people are of the view that it is time we modernised our electoral system. In this computer age, it is humiliating to stand in the sun for hours to thumbprint a ballot paper. The counting system is another ordeal which creates room for manipulation and unnecessary suspicion. It should be possible to computerise the voting system and no amount spent in this direction will be wasted.
Sunday, December 28, 2008 is not far away. It is the expectation of Ghanaians that it will come to pass peacefully, only this time, there will be a President-elect.
By Kofi Akordor
Ghanaians were heaping tonnes of praise on themselves. The foreign observer missions were profuse in their commendation at the turn of events on Sunday, December 7, 2008. All were unanimous — the presidential and parliamentary elections had been held in a peaceful atmosphere without any violence or intimidation and the outcome was a free and fair. Whether everything had been transparent could, however, not be told with any conviction.
The country succeeded in maintaining a record as one of the few countries on this turbulent continent called Africa where catapults, machetes, bows and arrows, guns and military armoured vehicles were not deployed into action to complete the unfinished business which the ballot box left undone.
We have emerged from a gruelling electioneering and energy sapping voting process with our national pride intact, even though one could not discount some disappointments and bruised or dented egos.
Sunday, December 7, 2008 is now history and we can only live with its memories, whether bitter or sweet and some useful lessons to guide us in similar endeavours in future. For the candidates/parties and their die-hard supporters, they must begin to realise that the saying; “All that glitters is not gold”, can have its equivalent on the political battlefield like; “All that crowd at political rallies do not transform into votes”. Otherwise, we would not have been subjected to another round of gruelling campaigning with its insults, lies and vain promises. The consolation is that it is our own decision to go for another round of the exercise so that at the end of the day the final choice will be our own and not an imposition from any quarter.
The two candidates — Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Professor John Evans Atta Mills — whose inability to cross the 50 per cent plus mark has forced us into the run-off may have to review their campaign strategies. By now it should have dawned on them that distributing fat wads of currency notes to so-called opinion leaders and king makers or bussing thousands of unemployed youth to rally grounds after pumping gallons of hard liquor into them will not do the trick when it matters most. As they always say, ‘it is our own money so if you bring it we shall collect it’.
They should address current problems confronting the people and focus more on their strengths than the perceived weaknesses of the opponent. Trying to undermine an opponent with lies and concocted stories only irritate the electorate and do not bring good returns on the D-day. Some of the adverts in both the print and electronic media are just waste of money and add to the subtractions.
Sometimes it is better they listen to their inner selves, instead of those hordes of advisers who may strip them naked without they knowing. Remember the story of the king with the beautiful cloth? He was told only his enemies would not see the wonderful cloth. In order not to be labelled as an enemy of the king, everybody saw the cloth until an innocent child pointed at the king’s nakedness. By then it was too late. The harm had been done. Once they know the cash is flowing, the advisers and special assistants will be at their best to give you all sorts of assurances and if you fail to put your ears on the ground you will wake up a day after the election laughing at the wrong side of your mouth.
For the party in power or the candidate contesting on the ruling party’s ticket, some of the promises do not make any impression on the electorate. They ask several questions which you may not hear, let alone try to answer. It becomes worse when, in a frenzy, we begin to initiate projects which we well know may never be completed. That amounts to insulting the intelligence of the electorate and they never forgive those who inflict such pain on them.
The use of the tribal or ethnic card can have its boomerang effects. While it may favour you in one area, it may work against you in another area. Moreover, it will be hypocritical to condemn ethnic bias when you think it is working against you but highlight it when you are in the gain. So it is wrong for any candidate to go to his area or home region and tell the people to vote for him because he is one of them and yet complain when the other candidate also makes a similar plea to his people. No President can govern a divided country and, therefore, the candidates must themselves be appealing to all sections of the public. Ethnic messages during campaigns have the potential of dividing the country.
The media received their fair share of praise and commendation from the observer teams that came to monitor the elections. They all concluded that the press is free and vibrant and contributed a lot in information dissemination before, during and after the elections.
In fact, the media played their watchdog role effectively and for this mention must be made of the FM radio stations which kept listeners glued to their radio sets throughout the voting process.
Media practitioners will, notwithstanding the high marks given them, be the first to admit that a lot of them contributed to the heightened tension which preceded the elections and which persisted throughout the exercise.
Some of the media practitioners became more or less propagandists for political parties and contesting candidates and threw the ethics of the profession to the wind in the process. If they do not know by now, some of the materials they release into the public domain do more damage to their clients than good.
The EC has come out again from another electoral process with good testimonials. It still has to improve upon its performance in the run-off. What many do not know is that what was seen as the EC’s good performance was actually a reflection of the patience and tolerance of Ghanaians. Electoral violence seldom occur during the voting. But that should not be taken for granted. It is the counting, collation and announcing of the results which give room for suspicion and trigger violence. This idea of counting, recounting and recounting of ballot papers must be checked.
The EC must also address the long queues which formed at some polling stations, as against the smaller number of voters at certain polling stations. When people stand for long hours in the tropical sun to vote, they are prone to anger at the least provocation and this can be compounded if there should be any electoral dispute.
The National Election Security Task Force has already made that observation and recommended the opening of more polling stations on December 28, 2008 for the run-off of the presidential elections. We hope the EC will listen to good advice.
Many people are of the view that it is time we modernised our electoral system. In this computer age, it is humiliating to stand in the sun for hours to thumbprint a ballot paper. The counting system is another ordeal which creates room for manipulation and unnecessary suspicion. It should be possible to computerise the voting system and no amount spent in this direction will be wasted.
Sunday, December 28, 2008 is not far away. It is the expectation of Ghanaians that it will come to pass peacefully, only this time, there will be a President-elect.
Empty classrooms and desperate parents
By Kofi Akordor
THE beginning of every academic year is a period of mental torture and physical agony to many parents and school authorities. On one side are desperate parents moving up and down looking for suitable schools for their children. Suitable schools here are the well-established ones with long records of good academic performance. Suitable here also means schools that are not only good in terms of academic performance but are also not too far away from concerned and doting parents.
On the other side are headmasters/headmistresses of the so-called well-endowed schools who are at their wits end trying to fend off demands from desperate and aggressive parents who will not take ‘NO’ for an answer if told the school had filled all its admission vacancies. These demands come from old students who cannot be easily ignored because of their contributions to the development of the school, friends, relatives, church members, traditional rulers and the ‘almighty’ political heavyweights.
Sometimes the pressure becomes so great and insurmountable that school heads simply place ‘No vacancy’ notices in front of their administration blocks and vanish into thin air. In the past, when the decision to admit or not to admit lay entirely in the hands of the school authorities, that period was described as the cocoa season of the educational authorities and you either played by the rules or suffered the consequences.
The introduction of the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) over the last three academic years or so was made with good intentions to, among other things, ease the pressure on school authorities, reduce the burden of school search on parents, close avenues for shady deals and ensure that students are placed in the right schools as per their performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Unfortunately, like many new things, the computerised placement system ran into difficulties, some of which could not necessarily be placed at the doorstep of the managers. In the process, the relief the CSSPS sought to bring to both candidates and school authorities was virtually blurred. Parents continued to move from one school to another, seeking admission for their children at the beginning of the academic year. School heads, on the other hand, continued to suffer the pain of explaining to frustrated parents why they could not offer admissions to their children.
Despite the assurances that the CSSPS will improve with time, it appears for now the problems associated with fresh admissions will not go away because they go beyond the computerised placement system.
The tragedy of the situation is that while parents are still struggling to place their children in schools, the Ghana Education Service has also made claim that a lot of schools are yet to have their full complement of admissions. According to a report in the Junior Graphic (Wednesday, December 3-9, 2008), with only a few weeks to the end of the first term of the 2008/2009 academic year, most schools in the Volta, Eastern, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions are still struggling to fill their classrooms with qualified candidates.
The breakdown shows that in the Volta Region, out of the 72 senior high schools, as many as 64 have vacancies for qualified BECE candidates. In the Eastern Region, the schools with vacancies are 43, out of the existing 78 schools.
In the Ashanti Region, 39 schools have declared vacancies, while in Brong Ahafo 38 schools have vacancies for fresh students. There are 27 schools in the Northern Region with vacancies, while Western Region has 25 schools with similar problems.
In the other regions, Central has 19 schools that could not fill their vacancies; Upper East has nine; Upper West 11, and Greater Accra seven.
By the close of this year’s CSSPS, 16,000 candidates are still searching, notwithstanding the long list of schools still thirsting for new students. The question, then, is, why this puzzle of floating candidates in the midst of vacant schools? A close study of the schools still waiting for the arrival of new students while the first term draws to a close will show a common denominator. All these schools are in the rural areas which share common problems, with a few others in the big towns and cities. They simply do not have the facilities to qualify them as senior high schools.
Most of these schools do not have the requisite infrastructure such as classroom blocks, laboratories, libraries, workshops and dormitories to make academic work exciting and challenging.
Apart from the physical infrastructure and learning materials which these schools are lacking, getting qualified teachers for them has always been a problem. Under the circumstances, most parents will do anything to avoid these schools, if even that means waiting for another academic year.
The decision to build more senior high schools in the rural communities was laudable and well-intentioned, to primarily stem the exodus to the urban centres and cities to seek higher educational laurels. It was also to give more opportunities to the youth in the rural communities to have access to higher education without the drudgery of travelling long distances to other parts of the country.
Unfortunately, these laudable objectives could not be attained because the exercise fell short of expectation. Most of the schools could not mature enough into what they were expected to be — well-equipped and staffed schools to offer quality education to children in the rural communities.
Consequently, students from these schools could hardly make it to the tertiary level, given the competitive environment prevailing in the country, for obvious reasons, hence the reluctance of parents to risk the future of their children by enrolling them in those schools.
Some of the older schools in the urban centres and cities are not insulated from these deprivations. They, therefore, become the last choice for parents who are determined to give their children quality education.
It will, therefore, be wrong for anyone to think that parents are being too demanding when they insist on getting admission for their children in certain particular schools. The Catholic Church, for instance, has been able to put up very good schools in even the rural areas and products from those schools do not find it difficult to rub shoulders with the so-called first-class schools. Other religious institutions are doing the same.
To make the ground level to make it possible for candidates to accept admission to these community schools means adequately resourcing these schools with everything which makes a school a school and not just any confined area for teaching and learning.
Apart from expanding facilities in the well-established schools so that they can take more students, the communities should be given proper facelift so that they can be attractive not only to students but the teaching staff who get frustrated by the poor and inadequate facilities.
As they are now, most of these rural community senior high schools at best only prolong the time these children spend in school without adding any qualitative improvement to their academic career. The result is what we are seeing now — vacant schools and students without schools.
THE beginning of every academic year is a period of mental torture and physical agony to many parents and school authorities. On one side are desperate parents moving up and down looking for suitable schools for their children. Suitable schools here are the well-established ones with long records of good academic performance. Suitable here also means schools that are not only good in terms of academic performance but are also not too far away from concerned and doting parents.
On the other side are headmasters/headmistresses of the so-called well-endowed schools who are at their wits end trying to fend off demands from desperate and aggressive parents who will not take ‘NO’ for an answer if told the school had filled all its admission vacancies. These demands come from old students who cannot be easily ignored because of their contributions to the development of the school, friends, relatives, church members, traditional rulers and the ‘almighty’ political heavyweights.
Sometimes the pressure becomes so great and insurmountable that school heads simply place ‘No vacancy’ notices in front of their administration blocks and vanish into thin air. In the past, when the decision to admit or not to admit lay entirely in the hands of the school authorities, that period was described as the cocoa season of the educational authorities and you either played by the rules or suffered the consequences.
The introduction of the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) over the last three academic years or so was made with good intentions to, among other things, ease the pressure on school authorities, reduce the burden of school search on parents, close avenues for shady deals and ensure that students are placed in the right schools as per their performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Unfortunately, like many new things, the computerised placement system ran into difficulties, some of which could not necessarily be placed at the doorstep of the managers. In the process, the relief the CSSPS sought to bring to both candidates and school authorities was virtually blurred. Parents continued to move from one school to another, seeking admission for their children at the beginning of the academic year. School heads, on the other hand, continued to suffer the pain of explaining to frustrated parents why they could not offer admissions to their children.
Despite the assurances that the CSSPS will improve with time, it appears for now the problems associated with fresh admissions will not go away because they go beyond the computerised placement system.
The tragedy of the situation is that while parents are still struggling to place their children in schools, the Ghana Education Service has also made claim that a lot of schools are yet to have their full complement of admissions. According to a report in the Junior Graphic (Wednesday, December 3-9, 2008), with only a few weeks to the end of the first term of the 2008/2009 academic year, most schools in the Volta, Eastern, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions are still struggling to fill their classrooms with qualified candidates.
The breakdown shows that in the Volta Region, out of the 72 senior high schools, as many as 64 have vacancies for qualified BECE candidates. In the Eastern Region, the schools with vacancies are 43, out of the existing 78 schools.
In the Ashanti Region, 39 schools have declared vacancies, while in Brong Ahafo 38 schools have vacancies for fresh students. There are 27 schools in the Northern Region with vacancies, while Western Region has 25 schools with similar problems.
In the other regions, Central has 19 schools that could not fill their vacancies; Upper East has nine; Upper West 11, and Greater Accra seven.
By the close of this year’s CSSPS, 16,000 candidates are still searching, notwithstanding the long list of schools still thirsting for new students. The question, then, is, why this puzzle of floating candidates in the midst of vacant schools? A close study of the schools still waiting for the arrival of new students while the first term draws to a close will show a common denominator. All these schools are in the rural areas which share common problems, with a few others in the big towns and cities. They simply do not have the facilities to qualify them as senior high schools.
Most of these schools do not have the requisite infrastructure such as classroom blocks, laboratories, libraries, workshops and dormitories to make academic work exciting and challenging.
Apart from the physical infrastructure and learning materials which these schools are lacking, getting qualified teachers for them has always been a problem. Under the circumstances, most parents will do anything to avoid these schools, if even that means waiting for another academic year.
The decision to build more senior high schools in the rural communities was laudable and well-intentioned, to primarily stem the exodus to the urban centres and cities to seek higher educational laurels. It was also to give more opportunities to the youth in the rural communities to have access to higher education without the drudgery of travelling long distances to other parts of the country.
Unfortunately, these laudable objectives could not be attained because the exercise fell short of expectation. Most of the schools could not mature enough into what they were expected to be — well-equipped and staffed schools to offer quality education to children in the rural communities.
Consequently, students from these schools could hardly make it to the tertiary level, given the competitive environment prevailing in the country, for obvious reasons, hence the reluctance of parents to risk the future of their children by enrolling them in those schools.
Some of the older schools in the urban centres and cities are not insulated from these deprivations. They, therefore, become the last choice for parents who are determined to give their children quality education.
It will, therefore, be wrong for anyone to think that parents are being too demanding when they insist on getting admission for their children in certain particular schools. The Catholic Church, for instance, has been able to put up very good schools in even the rural areas and products from those schools do not find it difficult to rub shoulders with the so-called first-class schools. Other religious institutions are doing the same.
To make the ground level to make it possible for candidates to accept admission to these community schools means adequately resourcing these schools with everything which makes a school a school and not just any confined area for teaching and learning.
Apart from expanding facilities in the well-established schools so that they can take more students, the communities should be given proper facelift so that they can be attractive not only to students but the teaching staff who get frustrated by the poor and inadequate facilities.
As they are now, most of these rural community senior high schools at best only prolong the time these children spend in school without adding any qualitative improvement to their academic career. The result is what we are seeing now — vacant schools and students without schools.
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