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Democracy Watch 5 Democracy Watch Vol. 2, No. 1 March 2001 1 A Quarterly Newsletter of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (formerly Center for Democracy and Development) 5 DemocracyWatch - Editors Note Volume 2, No. 1 The success of the December 2000 elections in Ghana ushered in a new political era on March 2001 7 January 2001. For the first time in the nations history, one elected government replaced another through the ballot box. While Ghanaians justifiably celebrated this achievement, ISSN: 0855-417X the critical challenges of governance and the economy remain. They anxiously await the responses to these challenges by President John Agyekum Kufuors NPP government. This edition of Democracy Watch reflects on three incidents of the election: the conflict in In this issue Bawku, the vote in two critical regions and women participation. It also examines the first four months of President Kufuors administration. As can be expected, there were some high points. Among them are the remarkable openness of the Presidency to the Media; de-emphasis of partisan politics at national events; elevation of womens issues through the creation of a Ministry of Womens Affairs; and the decision to formalize the process of EThe NDCs World Bank vs. The national reconciliation. So also were there some low points for the administration during NPPs Florida ............ Page 2 the period. These include the impolitic visit of the President to Togo; the seeming political mismanagement of the HIPC issue; and the mixed record of corruption control. REFLECTIONS ON THE THIRD EWhat Happened to the Women? .......... Page 3 TRANSITION ELECTION 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789 the identity of the perpetrators, who was 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789 The Bawku to be blamed, and whether it could have been prevented have yet to be fully High Points of the Kufuor E Electoral established. Indeed, answers to these and Administration ....... Page 4 other questions may never be fully known, On the morning of December 8, 2000, as the explanations for the violence in following Ghanas first round of Bawku arelikely to be multiple and presidential and parliamentary complex. elections,the third in the Fourth Republic, E Low Points of the Kufuor the potentially volatile mix of electoral Indeed, there has been a long- Administration ....... Page 6 politics and ethnic tensions was ignited standing feud between the in Bawku, Upper East Region. The Kusasi and Mamprusi over who resulting bloodshed left more than 50 should rightfully sit on the skin people dead, hundreds of homes and overseeing the Bawku businesses destroyed, and thousands of Traditional Area. lives shattered. The conflict subsided once the Regional Security Council Following the initial reports that there was arrived from Tamale with its armored fighting in Bawku, analysts in Accra vehicles and heavy artillery, but the EDITORIAL TEAM chalked up the outbreak of violence to the residents of Bawku were under a state n Baffour Agyeman-Duah ethnic problem. Indeed, there has been of siege for several days. With the dusk- n Audrey Gadzekpo a long-standing feud between the Kusasi to-dawn curfew imposed and peoples and Mamprusi over who should rightfully n E. Gyimah-Boadi suspicsions heightened, relations in the sit on the skin overseeing the Bawku n Edem Selormey border town may have been forever Traditional Area. Since the early 1980s, n Kwesi Yankah altered due to the conflict. when the Rawlings regime reverted the Bawku Naba back to Kusasi control, The cause of the violence and mayhem, Democracy Watch is published with funding from some Mamprusi have refused to the Danish International Development Agency, the reason why it took the form it did, acknowledge the sitting Bawku Naba. DANIDA Continued on next column E Continued on page 2 E Democracy Watch Vol. 2, No. 1 March 2001 2 Ethnic tensions alone, however, fail to explain the post-election and gunfire, with supporters of the NPP and NDC looting violence. Intermarriage between the Kusasi and Mamprusi and setting ablaze the businesses and homes of their alleged has become commonplace in Bawku. The town is as rivals (including Hawa Yakubus house on the Bawku-Pusiga multiethnic as any in Ghana. It is highly unlikely that indigenes road). of the area are not related members of the other ethnic group. Until the conflict erupted, Kusasi and Mamprusis worked, While the fighting was drawn along ethnic lines, it also had a played, and prayed with one another on a daily basis. partisan dimension, as Kusasi boys targeted not only Mamprusi supporters of the NPP, but also fellow Kusasi who This makes the factor of politics, and especially electoral politics dared to support Hawa. Likewise, the Mamprusi strongmen and election administration central to the analysis and who were involved in the fighting were driven by partisan as understanding of the Bawku crisis. In Bawku politics is much as ethnic interests, burning the NDC headquarters and inexorably intertwined with ethnicity. However, it is the political other businesses owned by known financial patrons of the context that conditions ethnicity. Depending on the political NDC. The deadly gun battle continued through Saturday, climate, ethnic tensions may or may not be expressed in a December 10. Peace was not restored until Sunday, when violent manner. the military was able to beef up its patrols and enforce the curfew. It is no coincidence that the fighting began outside the Bawku Community Center where the vote count for the parliamentary The Bawku incident represents an indictment on politicians contest dragged on through the night of December 7 and into and activists who are unable to resist the temptation of playing the following morning. A huge crowd of partisans massed the ethnic card in competitive elections. The weak response outside the constituency center, awaiting the official declaration of the security agencies to the violent explosion and its of the winner. Would it be incumbent Hajia Fati Seidu of the persistence over some four days suggests that security NDC, or former parliamentarian Madam Hawa Yakubu of arrangements for the December polls were far from adequate. the NPP? The contest was too close to call, and officials of Above all, the incident underscores the failure to read the early the Electoral Commission were forced to wait for a few warning signals in the elections. Against the background of wayward ballot boxes to make their way to the constituency the turbulent political situation of Bawku before and during center, located on the west side of town. the election campaign, it should have been assumed that the possibility of election violence would be high in that constituency The two women stand at the center of the political controversy. and extra security arrangements should have been put in Madam Yakubu known as Hawa to those in the region place.rr represented Bawku in Parliament as an Independent from 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 1993-1997. Had she opted to run again as an independent, 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 it is likely that she would have won the Bawku Central seat 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890The NDCs World Bank vs. 1 without much difficultly. Hitching her horse to the NPP wagon 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901 seemed to have made many of her long-time supporters wary The NPPs Florida of her newfound partisanship. This was especially true among the Kusasi, as some feared that an NPP government might try to revert the Bawku Naba back to the Mamprusi. While Despite the initial reports by the media that voter turnout Hawa tried to quell these sentiments during the campaign, vocal was massive for the elections on December 7 and low partisans of the NDC actively played upon these underlying three weeks later, on December 28, for the presidential runoff fears so as to dissuade people from voting for her. On the elections, nationwide turnout was surprisingly stable in both other side of the political divide, Hajia Fati was seen by many rounds of the 2000 elections. Roughly 60% of Ghanas 10.7 Bawku residents as unable to articulate the needs of the million registered voters participated in both elections. What community during her time in parliament. Even some NDC about turnout in the Ashanti and Volta regions, the New stalwarts wanted to remove her from office, but they were Patriotic Partys Florida and the National Democratic unable to ease her out gracefully because the party did not Congress World Bank respectively? These
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