Rock the Vote!

It's a very big day today in Ghana. It is election day falling on the Sunday of a holiday weekend. There is a ton of energy and excitement for a variety of reasons. Because of the holiday, many people are traveling to visit family - AND because many people are registered to vote in their hometowns whether they live there or not, many people are traveling home in order to vote (no absentee voting system here). Sort of puts me in mind of Mary and Joseph traveling to their hometown of Bethlehem for the census.

Anyway, back to the Ghana election. First, a short history:

Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy at its independence from Britain in 1957. The post independence leader, Kwame Nkrumah's goal was to merge the dreams of both Marcus Garvey ("back to Africa" movement) and the celebrated African-American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois into the formation of the modern day Ghana.

Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown by a military coup in 1966. A series of subsequent coups ended with the most recent coup in Ghana's history in 1981, giving power to Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings and resulting in the suspension of the constitution and the banning of political parties. A new constitution, restoring multi-party politics, was promulgated in 1992, and Rawlings was elected President in "free and fair" elections. He was re-elected in 1996 for his second and term-limited last term. (left, Rawlings is shown touring the country leading up to these 2008 elections)

In 2000, the opposition party candidate was elected - a significant test. However, power was handed peacefully from one government to the next and that candidate was re-elected in 2004 and is now in his final term. In speaking with people here, there are two distinct camps -one which believes the current government and political party have done great things for Ghana and that "we are moving forward" (shown on right) and the other party (below) that believes the current party is corrrupt beyond redemption and a change is needed - "we are changing" (see http://www.attamills2008.com/) . This second party, the NDC, is also the party of J.J. Rawlings, the party founder and coup guy from 1981 (remember him). However, even supporters of the NPP seem to think the candidate himself is a good man. They just worry about the continued heavy involvement in the party of Rawlings.

So, the arguments by the first group are that more children are in school now, including many more girls and education quality is improved. This seems to be true to my untrained, completely non-expert view. The opposition argument is that the government is corrupt - the heads of government departments are cousins, uncles, brothers and other hangers on regardless of qualification, all of whom somehow become quite rich; the infrastructure is deteriorating - roads that once were paved are now deeply rutted dirt and the railroad has ceased functioning altogether; and people who supported the other party or who are not of the "correct" ethnic background who used to get government contracts stopped getting them entirely when the NPP took power in 2000. People are asking "where has the money gone" and "what are we getting for it"?

And again, it's politics and I have no way of really knowing which of these assertions and allegations is true. I'm an outsider telling other outsiders what I have seen and heard. In fact, in true political style, all the stops are out. The NDC is even comparing the change needed in Ghana to the change achieved by the U.S. electing Barack Obama. (right)

The approach to campaigning is also interesting. Based on what I've heard, the typical approach is to give people money (one Cedi, about $0.80) and a t-shirt to get them to vote for you. According to some, this ensures the ongoing corruption - because the candidates have to accept large sums of money and go into significant debt to afford to do this, thereby making them beholden to their contributors after they are elected (sound familiar?).

Anyway, today is the big election, and whichever party wins, there is some possibility of unrest. If the opposition party wins, the supporters of the current government could cause trouble or the government itself could try and hold onto power. If the current party in power wins, the opposition party can claim the elections were rigged and unfair. So, everyone is very excited, but also on pins and needles. The final rallies were held on Friday - and no campaigning has been allowed since then, to allow emotions to settle before the election.

For those prone to worry, I am in no danger. Any unrest will be internally focused, not targeting the oburoni. However, for your peace of mind, I am going to Accra this morning to stay with Tim and Shika (our business partner and his wife) and their family for a couple of days until the results are tallied and there is some idea of the reaction. It will be fun to be part of their family and to see their reaction to the whole process.

So, keep the people in Ghana in your thoughts as they stand in the heat for hours to decide their future by standing behind a cardboard voting screen to mark their paper ballots for insertion to a plastic bin which used to be opaque, but is now transparent (more free and fair).
XO