By Sam Sarpong, Pearson '84

CONTENTS
SIGN OF THE TIMES?
ONE YEAR OF SENIOR KUFUOR'S ADMINISTRATION
FACE TO FACE WITH PRESIDENT KUFUOR

What perhaps makes the exercise quite interesting is what she is claiming in that regard. The amount she wants is supposed to be her pension for a 33-year marriage, her allowances as first lady backdated for nine years and general maintenance among others. She believes she has to be rewarded because her chances of remarrying might be slim considering that few men could have the courage to ask a former first lady for a hand in marriage. The couple got separated last year (2000) and were divorced in September, this year (2001).

Back home however, the story looks quite different for a glamorous couple. The media kept flashing what perhaps has turned out to be a reconciliation (not the political type!) between a religious couple, Bishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, Presiding Bishop of the Action Faith Christian Ministry International, and his wife. For some, it was unheard of, for a ‘Man of God’ to be involved in a messy relationship.

Although the breakdown of their relationship was made public, only a few people knew of the reasons behind the split early this year. The rumour mill was therefore rife with a lot of stories mainly because the details of their disagreement were sketchy. Ghanaians were, however, made to know that their reconciliation came into fruition as a result of prayers from well-meaning people of all shades.

The resort to these cases stems from the high rate of divorce that has been strewn in courts throughout Ghana. Figures are not readily available but officials indicate that divorces have increased considerably over the past years in major cities of the country.

Indeed, divorce in any climate is the sickness of modern times, as marriages seem to be crisis. In Ghana the harsh conditions almost invariably place a heavy burden on the stability or durability of the family group. Also to be blamed too, are incompatibilities of character, selfishness and individualism which seem to be gaining ground, not to mention conjugal violence.

My musings will never end until I recount another story that I came across recently. A final-year student of the University of Cape Coast, Yaw Sefah Ampomah, was reported to have committed suicide because he felt he was “too short.” He died in a Kumasi hotel through poisoning.

Yaw, aged about 26, felt that short and smallish men had no chance in the world. A message he left behind stated: “Short people who have made it in life, started rising and climaxed at a time when society was not aware of the prospects of people with height advantage. But in this ultra-modern world, people are cautious of the advantages of tallness. “I know I possess all the will-power to resist this suicide, but I felt it was needed. I saw it as a peaceful avenue to escape social embarrassment.”

Yaw did not like the way he was brought up in the society and said nature had been unfair to him. “I must confess that it really pains me to see my younger siblings and some children, now taller and fatter than me. All my body parts are small. Talk of my feet, toes, hands, fingers, head, etc. As though that wasn’t enough, I observed the hairs on my little head were thinning, giving way for baldness to take over. Consequently, I became fully convinced that the world has disappointed me, hence my decision to take my life.

“If I continued to live to see what is happening in the world, my heart would weep and I should be aggrieved. So, to save myself from that, I decided to escape through death.”

“In fact, I didn’t know I was short until 1998 when I entered the Training College. It worsened when I entered the University. When I realised that all hope was lost after 20 years, I decided to be content with myself.

After three more years I felt left behind as I saw that children were growing to overtake me. I felt shorter and shorter. I felt devalued.”

Yaw noted in his statement that his death could not be understood by many people in the society and apologised to his father for giving him such a shocker. He said that although he wished to bury his mother, events had compelled him to take the lead. “Let me quickly remark that I might be spiritually blind to have seen that some external forces were acting against me.”

Yaw’s death sent shock waves through the student body. While some find the action absurd, others were of the view that there were external forces behind his death. Yaw reportedly announced his intentions to commit suicide when he was in the first year. But the students did not take his pronouncements seriously, until the unexpected happened. “I was destined to commit suicide,” Yaw was said to have written.

These stories can have numerous of effects on us. They might usefully remind us of the fragility of life, evoke in us a deepened sense of compassion, or cause us to reflect on the human attributes and skills that enable survival under hostile conditions.

In all these, my concern has been to question the dictates of our time. People talk about norms. The media, undoubtedly, seem to portray a certain kind of trend that is more acceptable than the other. In the western democracies, pictures of female celebrities acquiring slim figures have gained currency. Meanwhile young girls, crazy about the ‘in-thing’ have had to subject themselves to nerve-cracking conditions to make them acquire skeletal frames like Victoria Beckam. The British government recently expressed concern about this attitude among teenage girls who have become anorexic because they want to look like their role models. Stories of celebrities marrying and divorcing months after, are often spicy enough and very often feel the pages of magazines like OK and Hello. People also relish, or rather the media make us to believe, that kiss-and-tell stories are juicy. Some ministers in John Major’s government slept with prostitutes. Bill Clinton even tried out something similar. He was not derided much because he is a nice guy, we are told. In Ghana, the searchlight has even been thrown on a high ranking Presbyterian priest for allegedly pursuing another woman. The list is endless. There seem to be no shame at all - everybody is doing it!

It is a situation from which there seem to be no escape. In one moment, society’s frailties and hypocrisies are exposed in the media, the next, there is the creation of bogus superstars and flawed public figures who lack decorum. Today’s media are often less than a relentless predator projecting themselves as everything popular, outrageous, the fickle judge of our wrong-doings, the preserver of our eccentricities, the creator of our habits and the pioneer of our follies.

One by one they have undermined the institutions and attributes we once held dear, including chastity making it trendy for us to make cheap jibes about our fellow men.

It is something of a cliché that the world has shrunk to a village in which the major problems are problems for everyone. If that is so, why have we as a society not worked hard enough, so that we could hold up a fairer mirror image of the world in which explaining and analysing mankind’s achievements should be just as chronicling and investigating its failures?

I honestly believe we have a mission to help others to have a better sense of the world we live in. A better informed world is more civilised, more compassionate, more ready to act and help. Unprecedented changes in this century present the media especially, with great opportunities and great problems. The opportunities arise from the global need for information as human beings assess the chances of their own survival as a species, or, at a less fateful level, just worry about what sort of world and what sort of life for its inhabitants there will be in future.

We need to break with stereotypes and sweeping prejudices to let people feel they belong here. Indeed we are not just guilty for what we do, but for what we fail to do and what we allow to happen.

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Since winning the presidential elections in December 2000, the popularity of Kufuor's administration has soared whilst his predecessor, Jerry Rawlings' National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, has been berated for the country's present economic mess. Ghana's debt at the end of December 2000, stood at $5.8 million - $4.3 in external debt and $1.5million in domestic debt.

Kufuor's gesture to allow for a government of national unity and his push for reconciliation has also won him the affection of many people. He has included other people outside his party in his cabinet and has demonstrated in many ways his resolve to do away with the partisan nature of politics that characterised the Rawlings' era. Perhaps another plus for Kufuor, has been the repeal of the criminal libel law, under which journalists were sent to prison for acts which were deemed injurious to the reputation of the state and the introduction of a national reconciliation bill to ensure national unity and integration.

Many Ghanaians suffered various forms of atrocities during the almost two- decade rule of Rawlings. Since the end of Rawlings' term of office, calls have been in certain quarters for investigations into the extra-judicial killings that took place, but Kufuor has stood firmly against such calls which, in the main, have seemed to be revengeful. He believes Ghanaians should never let bitterness and rancour generated during the Rawlings' so-called revolutionary era divide them. The present administration has also launched an anti-corruption drive in order to redirect energies and step up an orderly state of affairs in the country. The Rawlings era, witnessed cases of massive corruption. Some ministers and functionaries were even hauled before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice for allegedly abusing their offices amassing ill-gotten wealth. Kufuor has remained steadfast and ensured a zero tolerance to corruption. He amply demonstrated this when he put on trial Mallam Issa, a former sports minister in his government, for fraudulently causing the loss of $46,000. The money was to have been used as the winning bonus for players of the national soccer team, the Black Stars, but Issa lost it in strange circumstances. He was subsequently jailed for four years after being found guilty of the offence.

Despite the relatively strong showing of the government, it has in recent times slipped in its public relations strategies - a situation that has ignited a debate as to how far it could go in enjoying the present goodwill and whether it could live up to the expectation of Ghanaians.

Despite this, some Ghanaians, believe a one-year period might not be adequate enough to have a proper perspective of the government, especially in the wake of the economic mess it inherited from the Rawlings administration. To them, this period, at best, is meant for strategising and no concrete evidence of real development could be attained. The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Nana Akufo-Addo, acknowledges that "the huge problems left for us are not problems that are going to be solved overnight. They will take time, but we are on it." But Dan Lartey, an opposition figure, believes the time-frame is adequate to draw conclusions since within the said period, the action and inaction of government have given enough signals to determine that it has no clear direction for the country. "One year is long enough for the government to establish its policies both locally and internationally to show the country's direction but unfortunately Ghana now lacks focus on policies. We are still being ruled under the shadows of the former NDC government's policies," says Lartey, who stood as a Presidential candidate in the 2000 election that was won by Kufuor. Indeed, within the first year of Kufuor' administration a lot has happened that seems to draw from both arguments.

The government has been commended both locally and within international circles for halting the decadence that engulfed the economy. The Cedi, has been relatively stable against almost all the major currencies in both the inter-bank and the forex bureaux markets during the past year. The stability of the cedi was in contrast with developments in 2000 when the cedi depreciated sharply and continuously against the major currencies. The inflationary rate has been brought down considerably. It stood at 42 per cent earlier on in the year (2001) but had been reduced considerably to 28 per cent (November 2001). The government believes it could be brought down to a single digit in 2002.There has been renewed interest in Ghana's economic development by major foreign donors. Kufuor is seen as one of the 'preferred' African leaders. He has also held consultations with major world leaders since assuming office and on the African scene, he has played a yeoman's role in the fortunes of the continent.

But back home, the government seems to be losing the plot somehow, following its seemingly inability to meet the needs of the teeming number of unemployed youth in the country. The expected economic recovery that it promised Ghanaians as part of the party's electoral campaign, remains largely unfulfilled at least to the teeming number of Ghanaians who gave their massive support to Kufuor. His campaign promises of a major socio-economic advancement, the abolition of the cash and carry system, an ubiquitous practice in Ghana for patients to pay all medical bills upfront before being admitted at hospitals, and a conscious effort at making life bearable for the average person in the street, are yet to be accomplished. Government ministers on various fora have shot back to say time and again that everything is on course, but the lack of any visible signs seems to be causing disaffection now.

Ghana joined the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative early in the year (2001) because it could not sustain her debt levels. The government did so without adequate consultation, which infuriated a number of Ghanaians. People felt the country does not deserve to be in the club of the poor. Ghana has since started to reap the benefits. Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo says about eight of the country's major creditors have expressed interest in writing off the entire debt owed them. Annual benefit of $250 million will accrue to Ghana under the HIPC between 2002 and 2003 when the country is expected to reach compulsory point, rising to $280 in 2004. The people, who have had to endure considerable hardships as a result of government measures to prop up the economic, are now fumbling because they are unsure of the government's direction. "They supported the government on the basis of the numerous insensitivities showed by the Rawlings' regime but it seems those concerns that Kufuor promised to weed out are finding their roots in his government," says Dr Edward Mahamah, leader of one of the opposition parties.

Recently the government initiated a so-called private sector participation in water management, a concept that has not gone down well. Many believe by encouraging the private sector to be involved in the control of water, the already over-burdened Ghanaian would be made to pay for more. The government's explanation in this area has not been convincing enough. Opposition has been growing ever since over this issue and as Kwasi Oduro, a social worker explains, "it is because two decades of structural adjustment policies and neo-liberalism under Rawlings only delivered greater social inequalities and potential social disintegration to the Ghanaian society."

The Christian Aid, a UK based charitable organisation, has meanwhile accused the British Government of using the lure of a L10m aid package to open up Ghana's water industry to foreign investment. The British aid, according to Christian Aid, is part of a $500m (L350m) restructuring of the Ghanaian water industry, led by the World Bank. Many Ghanaians believe the World Bank is motivating the action, "It is a prejudiced indoctrination and an insult, that undermines the intelligence of our people," declares Dr A. H. K. Abane, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Integrated Development, University of Development Studies.

Other opposition groups have also turned the heat on the government. The opposition Convention People's Party (CPP) has also stated that the government is not working in the interest of the ordinary Ghanaian. "We advocate no knee-jerk reactions to the previous government's actions but it appears to us that the NPP is showing little imaginative leadership beyond taking over and continuing the hopeless and discredited NDC policies and programmes," the CPP leadership said in a statement.

But what most Ghanaians saw as an affront to their sensitivities was an arrangement by the government to advance $20,000 to Parliamentarians to buy cars. The fierce reaction from the people led the government to backtrack on the scheme. It did not show the administration in good light, as the President was reportedly said to be unaware of the arrangement. Concerns were therefore raised over whether Kufuor is in charge of the country. Appropriately, but perhaps belatedly, the executive attempted to distance itself from this loan proposal. Various news reports indicate that the president was outraged and convened a hasty meeting between the executive and representatives from parliament. It is on record that some ministers have taken major decisions that were not within their ambit, such as ordering the transfer of chief executives, a situation, which is contrary to statutory regulations. The security apparatus has also conducted certain exercises that have brought the government into disrepute such as arresting a senior civil servant inside a church house for interrogation. The result of such irresponsible behaviour by some government appointees is what has created a very bad image for the government and has affected the popularity ratings of President Kufuor lately. However, the criticisms have been enough to make the government sit up.

President Kufuor has now sent a strong signal to all ministers of state to stick to the due process in their day-to-day administration. "The days when people were removed from office without regard to laid down procedures or justifiable reasons are over," the President told a meeting of some of his ministers and key functionaries. The Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, says the President believes unless there are justifiable reasons for such removals, "things must be done the right way to forestall a situation which makes any action appear personal, or as though someone has a bone to pick with the person."

Rawlings and his party members have also raised concerns over what they perceive as the government's antagonistic stance against their functionaries. In certain instances, the government has revoked the appointments of certain personalities who in the estimation of the NDC are sympathisers of the past regime. A typical case was that of Dr Sipa-Adjah Yankey, President of the ECOWAS bank, whose appointment was embroiled in a controversy following Ghana's decision to withdraw support for him. The government's position was that Dr Yankey is standing trial for his alleged involvement in a deal and in that circumstance, it felt his appointment should be revoked till the case is over. Aside from this, some top functionaries of the past regime have been on trial for alleged fraudulent acts. Whilst these were initially welcomed by a number of people who were angry with the alleged plundering of the nation's resources by the ex-ministers, the considerable period the cases have taken and their twist and turns, have led people to lose interest in them. Some charges have been dropped whilst others simply are perceived by some people as lacking the evidence to prosecute.

Former President Rawlings believes his party functionaries are being targetted by the government to annihilate his party. "They have embarked on witch-hunting against my people," he says. But perhaps the major headache being faced by the government now is how to contend with Rawlings, whose outburst of late, have caused some furore in the country. Rawlings has time and again criticised the present administration accusing it of witch-hunting. He has also said a coup could be imminent in Ghana because of the government's "insensitivity and divisive tendencies". This view has been denounced by a number of Ghanaians who even feel their ex-president should be arrested for fomenting a state of unrest. In November 2001, Rawlings cut short a visit to Botswana and reportedly told his hosts that there had been an assassination attempt on his bodyguards in Ghana, when indeed it was only one bodyguard who had an encounter with suspected armed robbers. The truth is that Rawlings' statement, which branded the attempted robbery, as an assassination, when the evidence did not point to that, has continued to heighten tension between him and the government. "The only deduction is that the former President was too willing and too eager to paint the nation black so as to get his personal agenda across. He wanted to be perceived as being haunted by the government that succeeded him and this is dangerous," angry Ghanaians said in phone-in calls after the issue.

In the early part of the year (2001) Rawlings insisted on using his preferred military personnel as his bodyguards, although it was the prerogative of the present government to provide him with policemen. The government has tried to extend to him every courtesy as a surviving former head of state but his outbursts on a number of issues, and his desire to have things done his own way, seem to inflame passions in the country.

If the Kufuor regime is to succeed, then it is likely one of its greatest threats would be to fight off any likely Rawlings surge to create a state of unease in the country. The government will also have to provide visible and far-reaching leadership devoid of pettiness and a more humane approach to development.

One year may have not drawn enough to know a lot about the new government, but it has served as a harbinger of things to come.

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Dubbed, "the gentle giant" in view of his huge frame which he complements with a gentle outlook, President Kufuor's religious inclinations and forthrightness are perhaps a measure of the training he received at Prempeh College.

My relationship with him dates back to 1996 when I interviewed him for my paper the DAILY GRAPHIC, shortly before the elections. I again covered the last NPP rally for the said elections. Although we never formed a strong bond by then, I grew to like him for the views he expressed and as an Amanfoo, I always felt that the two of us had a lot in common.

But I have not been in Ghana enough to know how he has fared over the past few years when I relocated to the UK to pursue my MA and MBA programmes. Despite that, I've heard a lot to help me keep pace with developments back home. After all, Ghana is a nation of eavesdroppers. Believe me, everyday a new scandal, indiscretion or lapse of honour is inflicted on us, sending us into agonies of expectation about who did what, to whom and how often.

Sometimes the newsmedia disgorge a barrage of sleaze and sensation that probably has little bearing on truth and reality. Very often we are forced to look on helplessly at a world of government cover-ups, frolicsome politicians and dubious companies. It is a situation from where there is no escape.

At times, we take solace in the fact that we are in the process of learning democracy, in which case, we can be pardoned since our bitter past did not teach us how to listen to the other or respect their difference. There has also been the difficulty associated with getting information from government to carry out a role that is a constitutional obligation. The opposition, for instance, should have information on the state of public events to enable it to carry out fiscal checks just like the media.

Anyway, the sheer fun from the stories carried by the media enliven both the social and political atmosphere. That really makes Ghana tick! But I missed all these - the lively debates, claims and counter-claims that set the nation agog.

I can vividly recall how enthused I was to return home to Ghana. I had heard and read reports about the elections, the reported jubilations of a section of Ghanaians in the streets and I was determined to see everything "filli-filli."

The thought of what Ghana might be like in the aftermath of the 2000 elections, which people would be given ministerial positions, whether Kufuor could prove equal to the task weighed against the high expectations of Ghana, were issues that engaged my attention.

As fate would have it, immediately after the President Kufuor's inauguration, I returned home. Barely a week after my arrival, I was assigned the responsibility of covering the presidency.

As an Amanfoo, it has been quite a wonderful feeling to be entrusted with providing publicity for a fellow Amanfoo. I've since covered various deliberations involving the President and travelled with him extensively. Throughout these times, I have listened to his views and concerns about a number of issues and heard a lot from personalities who've visited him. I have since seen the esteem with which they hold him.

Oftentimes, people tend to ask me one basic question. How is the President like? Sometimes, I wonder what exactly to say in such circumstance. On a number of occasions, my answer almost immediately ends up this way. He is cool but hard!

I don't know whether that makes sense but that is perhaps my perception of the man who has been mandated to lead Ghanaians till 2004. I think I have known him enough to make an informed judgement about him.

He does not mince words and says what he feels at any point in time. More often than not, he cherishes the need for consultations and would always want to build bridges.

He is on hand to have cautioned his ministers against graft and endeared himself as an apostle of zero tolerance approach to corruption.

One particular thing is that although he finds himself in the country's highest office, he doesn't forget that it is ordinary people who put him up there. The struggle of everyday life are a constant reminder to him that the road to progress must be a proactive one.

If progress means enjoying a certain freedom of speech and of action, if it means recognising one's duties and having certain rights, in short, being able to attain a state of well-being, then seeing the interests of all Ghanaians, fulfills the Kufuor dream.

But if you have lived in this country for years and have witnessed several undemocratic changes of governments, you cannot help but wish that the present political dispensation lasts.

To date, people have had to contend with harsh times. Things are not quite easy for a lot of Ghanaians. But they seem to appreciate what the government is doing for them. They seem to be at peace with themselves.

And for all these, it is because of Kufuor's reconciliatory gestures and the desire to heal the wounds of the past that have set the tone for a peaceful co-existence in Ghana today.

If anything at all, Kufuor's present role should be a great encouragement to all Amanfoo. It should send in the right signal to us all to pursue objectives that could send us to the highest pedestal of our career. This should be the clarion call.