What The Papers Say
Alas! Poor Ghana
The Times, London
Ghana's National Day, which was observed yesterday, was an occasion full of melancholy. Twenty seven years ago the former Gold Coast was leading Africa out of colonialism and the future seemed bright. Today Ghana is a case study of the things that can go wrong in Africa; in particular, the past two years under Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings have shown how a confused left wing 'revolution' can transform a critical situation into an unmitigated disaster.An anguished statement issued by a group of Ghanaian exiles who have formed the Ghana Democratic Movement does not exaggerate when it says:
"Ghanaians are hungry. Public services and utilities have broken down through neglect and lack of leadership. Factories are idle and farms overgrown. The transport system is paralysed and the shops are empty. Ghanaians, who were always so proud of their nation, are leaving in droves to make a living elsewhere or to escape the lawlessness and brutal violence of their own government. The nation is being torn apart in fulfilment of an imported ideology of class war. Tribalism reigns. Fear stalks the land. The motto on our national coat of arms - 'Freedom and justice' - mocks us."
The nation of about 14m people has resources. It was once the world's leading cocoa producer and the gold that gave it the name of the Gold Coast is still there to be mined. What went wrong in the pre-Rawlings era was more a matter of economics than politics. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President, was rightly condemned for his drift towards autocracy and the way in which his party lost contact with its roots. But his real sin was that he lacked the economic sensitivity to adapt his policies when the cocoa price dipped and Ghana's income fell in the early 1960s. He just printed more money and the currency, the cedi, began to be debased until by the 1970s it had lost all touch with reality.
Coups by senior military men in 1966 and 1972 alternated with returns to civilian governments in 1969 and 1979. It could be argued that civilian government was never given a proper chance, but it is also true that all governments were ineffective and corrupt to a degree. Flight Lieutenant Rawlings seized power first in 1979 for a 'house-cleaning' exercise; handed over to the civilians later that year; and then returned to power on December 31, 1981 to introduce what was intended to be a complete "revolution".
His great talent is to be able to convey an impression of blazing sincerity to large crowds. He is deeply indignant that some amorphous "they" (a combination of international capitalism and corrupt Ghanaians) have been exploiting Ghanaians. "They have chopped Ghana small," is the West African phraseology he often uses. However, two years of power have demonstrated that he has no economic prescription that will help Ghanaians. Things have got steadily worse and he is now forced to follow faithfully IMF demands in the hope that despised international capital will come to his aid. His political ideas and those of the more politically-educated man at his elbow are also proving ineffective. There were theories about a pyramid of people's and worker's "defence committees" amounting to a system of "participatory democracy", which would be superior to "representational democracy" (Colonel Gaddafi's Green Book is an influence here). But they have not worked in practice.
Flight Lieutenant Rawlings has become increasingly isolated. Of the men who formed his first ruling council only one remains with him in power. The professional classes have always been solidly against him, but he now faces strong opposition from the students and there is evidence that the workers and soldiers are becoming increasingly disillusioned.
There is little the West can do about any of this, as the statement by the Ghanaian exiles admits. "We do not expect your governments or your people to fight our cause for us." Their appeal is for the West to be aware of what is happening, and of the dangers of Libyan arms being used to spread "revolution" to Ghana's neighbours; to take "an unequivocal stand in support of freedom and justice in Ghana"; and to be ready to help if a dawn should ever follow the present darkness.
Ghana at 27
The Guardian, Nigeria
Ghana is celebrating the 27th anniversary of its independence from British colonial rule this week.On March 6, 1957, the Republic of Ghana was proclaimed by the Convention People's Party, headed by Kwame Nkrumah, and this event decisively marked the beginning of a process which witnessed the independence of many other African countries including Nigeria.
Ghana's task of nation-building since independence, like the experiences elsewhere in Africa, has been a tortuous enterprise. Nkrumah's nationalist government was a pride for progressive forces everywhere. Its historic aphorism that "Ghana's independence would mean nothing if other African countries remained colonized", became a guiding principle for a radical foreign policy which actively championed decolonization throughout the continent, and also advocated greater political and economic integration for free African states...
However, at home, Nkrumah found himself unable to destroy the obstructive structures of colonial underdevelopment. Internal reaction grew. And Ghana's economic problems, exacerbated by the Western cartel's manipulation of cocoa prices, soon led to a CIA-sponsored coup d'etat in 1966.
Thus began the long spell of military rule which has lasted to this day, with only two brief interruptions of civilian government (elected in 1969 and 1979). The present administration of Flight-Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings took over power from the corrupt and discredited civil regime of Hilla Limann in December 1981.
The Rawlings administration has launched a national revolutionary programme which is aimed at solving the enormous socio-economic problems in which Ghana has been sunk. The programme is animated by a strategy of self reliance in the fields of agriculture and industrial development. It is a difficult programme; but, as events in Ghana have shown in the past two years, it offers greater possibilities for building a truly just and humane society for all. The Guardian extends its best wishes to the leaders and people of Ghana.
