Emmanuel Jeh Taryon
African Panorama West African Correspondent/based in Ghana
Ghanaian president, Mr. J.A. Kufuor does not agree with suggestion that his administration should leave a legacy at the end of its tenure. What he prefers is, rather that his administration should not only leave a legacy, but also must leave a record.
With barely seven months for him to bow out of office, what record has the Kofuor administration set for Ghanaians, what will the president be best remembered for when he leaves office and becomes Ghana’s second living ex-president? Certainly the Kofuor administration chalked some indelible successes, but it cannot run away from numerous setbacks and daunting challenges.
President Kufuor’s presidency was the product of the New Patriotic Party’s 2000 election manifesto, christened “Agenda for Positive Change”, which among other things was intended to restore law and order and make the streets safe for wives and mothers, coming at a time when Ghanaians usually woke up and were greeted with news of gruesome murders of women especially in the nation’s capital Accra and its environs.
Other objectives of the manifesto, jointly signed by the then National Chairman of the party Mr. Odoi Syves, and Mr. J.A. Kufuor as a presidential candidate, were to improve low economic growth, reduce high unemployment, eradicate poverty, reduce high interest rate and inflation, cut excessive government debt as well as stop the declining value of the cedi (Ghana’s national currency).
Ensuring the rule of law and the independence of the Judiciary as well as establishing positive partnership between the government and the private sector, promoting business confidence and local and foreign investment were also captured in the ambitious manifesto.
In his inaugural address on January 7, 2001, the president Mr. J.A. Kuffour outlined his personal vision and transformed the party’s manifesto into five thematic concepts - vigorous infrastructure development, “Golden Age of Business”, zero tolerance for corruption, modernize agriculture centered on rural development and improve social services with special emphasis on affordable education and health care and good governance and private sector development.
When his mandate was renewed in 2004, president Kufuor revisited his priorities and narrowed them down into three-pronged strategies-human resource development, good governance and private sector development. These priorities were well received by the Ghanaian electorate as was demonstrated by a resounding presidential run-off victory for a second term, defeating his then archival professor John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
With election right in the corner, Ghanaians are putting their government’s electoral promises under a serious and critical scrutiny. What in reality has the government achieved and how such achievements have bearings on the lives of the electorate are questions of debate in political cycles, the media and streets corners. The social economic “utopia” promised by the Kufuor administration is under critical review as Ghanaians go to the poll to elect their new president and members of parliament in December 2008.
In fact, no government the world over can satisfy all its citizens at once, but any government should not grossly fail by under achieving its promises made to the governed, because to retain or change government is an express will and confidence of the electorate. Come this December 2008, Ghanaians are going to be faced with the above scenario to either give the governing National Patriotic Party (NPP) a third term or change it for any of the four opposition parties especially the formidable National Democratic Congress (NDC) founded by former president Jerry John Rawlings.
Record
Well, as I mentioned early the Kufuor administration is credited for some successes. Upon assuming office in 2001, it declared Ghana poor and adopted the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. It argued that Ghana was saddled with foreign debts and needed some breathing space from the payments of huge interests in servicing loans which were suffocating the country. The government has also drastically reduced inflation and has undertaken some massive infrastructural developments. Notable among them include the construction of the Accra-Yamoransa, Accra-Aflao, Accra-Kumasi and Bole-Bamboi strategic roads.
The constructions of two new sports stadia in Sekondi and Temale, Western and northern Ghana respectively, and the rehabilitation of the Accra and Kumasi stadia deserve commendation. The completion of the Bui Dam and the construction of the West Africa Gas Pipe Line will augment energy supply in the country. The discovery of oil in commercial quantities, the successful hosting of the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, Ghana’s first participation in the World Cup since independence, the near completion of a new presidential complex, etc. will also feature prominently in the NPP’s campaign message and provide the trump card if any success for retaining power.
Setbacks:
Unfortunately, the NPP government of President John Agyekum Kufuor has not been able to deliver on most of its promised programs. There are serious breaches and lapses here and there. Contrary to its promise to improve security in Ghana, it is during the administration of the NPP government that the events such as the callous beheading of a northern chief Ya Na, the May 9, 2001, Accra stadium stampede disaster which claimed 127 lives and high profile contract killings, took place. There is a rise in rural and urban poverty; strike actions by doctors, nurses, teachers, and civil servants for better wages and working conditions are a regular occurrence.
It is during the leadership of the Kuffour-led NPP government that Ghana experienced its worst energy crisis ever; water supply is inadequate and privatized; Guinea worm infestation is still a problem. Ghana remains one of the only two countries in the world with Guinea worm infestation. The cost of living for the ordinary man remains very high, but in stark contrast to the affluent and flamboyant life style of government officials. The common man in the street faces worsening accommodation problem. Rent advance is sky-rocketing and killing many city dwellers. The Ghanaian worker earns a minimum wage of $2 but the cost of food, water, electricity, transportation, etc, takes the chunk of his incomes to the extent that he can hardly make any meaningful savings.
The Kufuor administration has not done much to stamp out corruption as was enunciated in the president’s inaugural address. According to his critics his policy to fight corruption got blunted along the way and perception of graft remains widespread. Ghana Integrity Initiative’s Survey of 2005 indicated that out of 900 respondents interviewed 92.5 percent thought that corruption was prevalent in the country. Another subject of grave concern is drugs (cocaine). There are allegations of high level involvement in trafficking and the failure of the government to take a decisive and bold step to stamp out this social cancer has earned Ghana an unenviable reputation as the Columbia of West Africa .
Ghana’s governing party NPP has its origin from the so-called Dankwa-Busia elitist political tradition that favors a liberal capitalist economic system, hence it places emphasis on private sector development. States enterprises such as Ghana Telecom, Ghana Water Company, Ghana Railways, etc. are privatized through a controversial policy of Divestiture Implementation Program. Foreign private investors or profiteers now run them. With these hitherto state-owned entities now in the hands of profit oriented companies, many Ghanaian workers are rendered redundant by their new private bosses, who import and prefer their own foreign personnel to the indigenous Ghanaian work force. Despite protests by labor unionists the government went ahead with its unpopular privatization programs at the expense of many thousands of jobs for the masses.
The Ashanti-regional dominance of the NPP government is troubling and leaves much to be desired for many Ghanaians. The president is an Ashanti and so most of his seventy-five ministers and their deputies. The ever increasing national influence of the Ashanti King Otumfo Osei Tutu II continues to fuel criticism that the government is pursuing an Ashanti-dominated-Ghana agenda previously conceived and promulgated by its predecessors of the Dankwa-Busia political hegemony. Ghanaian traditional Kings and Chiefs supposed to play custodian roles and stay out of active politics as enshrined in the constitution.
Political parties and Flag Bearers
Well, the 2008 presidential race line-up is complete. This includes the flag bearers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo; National Democratic Congress (NDC), Prof. John Evans Atta Mills; Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom; the peoples National Convention (PNC), Dr. Edward Mahama; and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Mr. Emmanuel Ansah. These are accomplished professionals with political pedigree. Ghanaians should be proud of people of such high caliber contesting the presidential seat.
The National Patriotic Party (NPP)
Hailed from the Dankwa-Busia political ancestry, the NPP is also an elitist ideological block that has for long dominated Ghana ’s political landscape. Its founders were political bedfellows of exploitative western colonialists and imperialists at the expense of the wider ordinary Ghanaian society. They strongly opposed Ghana ’s independence and subsequently, with the sinister assistance of their fellow western detractors, overthrew the first post-independence government of the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah through a military coup in 1966. This was followed by a chaotic era of military adventurism, dictatorship and economic plunder that characterized Ghana ’s history of the late 1960s and 70s; during which the country suffered its worst economic meltdown. As a result, Ghanaians fled in thousands to mostly sisterly West African countries especially Liberia and Nigeria as economic refugees. This crisis precipitated a revolutionary convulsion that engulfed Ghana in the early 1980s and eventually culminated to an overwhelmingly popular military intervention led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC)
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is now the largest opposition party in Ghana . It was founded by ex-president Jerry John Rawlings following his decade-long military rule that ended in 1992. With its social democratic philosophy, the NDC’s policies are mainly human centered. It is credited for ending decades of isolation and neglect against the populous muslin north; the restoration of multi-party democracy, equity, government accountability and entrenchment of civil institutions in Ghana . Freedom of the press, rural electricity and water supply, free basic education for all, construction of schools and hospitals, etc. are some of the unforgettable monumental legacy of the NDC. To many the NDC is a party that fights to keep Dr. Nkrumah’s dreams alive and a serious force to contend with during elections.
The Convention People’s CPP)
The Convention People’s Party (CPP) was formed by Ghana ’s first president the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. With the able leadership of Dr. Nkrumah, the CPP relentlessly fought against and ended British colonial rule, obtained independence, and laid Ghana ’s post-colonial social and economic infrastructural foundation including the Akosombo Dam, the major source of energy in the country. But on the flip side, the “Nkrumahiest” camp (CPP) is unfortunately in disarray with a new crop of splinter groups in the like of the People’s Convention Party (PNC) and the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), each of which claims to be the truest proponent than the others of Nkrumahiesm - Ghana’s coined version of socialism.
Be as it should, all the contesting political parties have launched their campaigns for the general elections slated for December 7, 2008. Once again Ghanaians are overwhelmed with promises for better lives, but political pundits believe that many are poised to vote based on economic issues and comparison of records basically between the ruling NPP and the major opposition NDC; thus, it would be politically imprudent to rely on speeches to win over a rhetoric-wary Ghanaian electorate.
AFRICAN PANORAMA
WHAT RECORD HAS THE KUFUOR ADMINISTRATION SET FOR GHANAIANS?
