Seven in race for Ghana President's post

By M. S. Prabhakara

ACCRA (GHANA), DEC. 7. Long lines of laughing, jostling voters formed at ballot stations in Ghana's presidential elections on Thursday that mark the end of an era for this West African nation.

For two decades, a charismatic former fighter pilot who staged two coups and led a brutal military government before embracing democratic ideals, has embodied Ghana's Government.

But the President, Mr. Jerry Rawlings, is barred by the Constitution from running for another four-year term.

Though he seized power in what may be called a two-stage coup (June 4, 1979 and Dec. 31, 1981), he successfully civilianised his military regime with the adoption of the new Constitution, the revival of free political activity and the holding of the elections, all in 1992. These in effect mark the coming into being of what is called the Fourth Republic in Ghana.

Since then, the problem for the revived political parties is how to secure power which they once wielded. They have not been able to match the skills of Mr. Rawlings in this regard. Another imponderable is what would Mr. Rawlings, who is only 53, will do after the polls. He is too young, energetic and full of ideas, to walk away into a political sunset after dominating Ghanaian politics for two decades. He makes no secret of his resolve to ensure that ``the gains of June 4, 1979'' and of the PNDC/NDC government over the last two decades, are further consolidated and advanced. Even more interesting to see is what role if any, Mrs. Nana Rawlings, who has been campaigning for the NDC, may have in the event of a NDC victory.

Seven candidates are in the fray for the post of President. Those (with the names of their parties within brackets) are: Prof. John Evans Atta Mills (National Democratic Congress), Mr. John Agyekum Kufor (New Patriotic Party), Professor George Hagan (Convention People's Party), Dr. Edward Mahama (People's National Convention), Mr. Dan Lartey (Great Consolidated People's Party) Mr. Gossie Tanoh (National Reform Party) and Dr. Charles Yves Wereko-Brobbey (United Ghana Movement). Their running mates are all men, which has caused some resentment among women groups. Some women groups have called on women voters to vote for women candidates in the 200 parliamentary constituencies irrespective of the candidates' political affiliations, though it is not clear how this choice will be exercised if there is more than one woman candidate in any constituency.

The two clear front-runners are Mr. Atta Mills and Mr. Rufor, both established politicians. Mr. Atta Mills is the incumbent Vice- President, while Mr. Kufor had contested against Mr. Rawlings four years ago. Strictly speaking, Mr. Atta Mills is the candidate of Progressive Alliance which comprises the NDC and two other political parties - the Democratic People's Party and the fetchingly named EGLE party, standing for ``Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere.'' The political and ideological origins of the NDC go back to the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) set up following the second Rawlings coup of 31, December, 1981. The Progressive Alliance, forged before the 1992 elections, has survived eight years, though individuals have walked in and out of the alliance.

The NPP is the political inheritor of the historic opposition politics in Ghana, with a strong base in the central Ashanti region. Indeed, it was only in this region, the home of the famous Asante people, that the NDC failed to win a majority of votes both in 1992 and 1996. This was also the home of the first organised opposition to Kwame Nkrumah, the National Liberation Movement representing regional interests and more broadly a federal polity as opposed to the unitary state under Nkrumah. The NPP is acknowledged the political inheritor of these political tendencies.

Though the CPP bears the name, and claims the political inheritance of the party founded by Kwame Nkrumah, at least two other parties in the fray, the PNC and the GCPP, also claim to be more truly Nkkrumaist than the CPP. It is indeed amazing how many, including those who support the ruling party, claim to be the true political heirs of Nkrumah, truly a tribute to a man who continues to be blackguarded by the western media and political establishments.

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