All eyes on Ghana as election nears
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ACCRA, Ghana: Voters in this coastal African nation are acutely aware of the responsibility they bear when they head to the polls Sunday to elect their next president.
Flanked on one side by Togo, a nation ruled for 41 years by the same family, and on the other by Ivory Coast, which is only now emerging from civil war, Ghana is a rare example of democracy.
The candidate they elect Sunday will mark the country's second successive transfer of power, a litmus test for a mature democracy and a feat that only a handful of other nations in Africa have accomplished.
"The significance of this election, is that Ghana is going to tell the world, 'We understand the need for democracy and we can do it," says Akwasi Osei, a Ghanaian who is now a political science professor at Delaware State University, "We can get it right."
An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.
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But the race is really against Kufuor's chosen successor Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party, or NPP, and opposition leader John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress, or NDC. With Ghana averaging 6 percent growth, roughly three times the global average, the ruling NPP Party is campaigning on a platform of continuity.
They have plastered the country with posters that say "We are moving forward" and their tens of thousands of supporters use a hand signal to greet each other: They place their two palms out in front of them and make a back-and-forth motion, indicating forward momentum.
They point to the fact that during Kufuor's two terms in office Ghana has become an economic success story. Foreign investment has grown 2000 percent, while exports shot up 1 1/2 times from $1.6 billion in 2001 to $4.2 billion now.
Yet for all the statistics indicating success, many here say they have little to show for what economists quantify as progress. Much of the country has no electricity and even in the capital, the poor relieve themselves on the white sand beach because they have no latrines.
The seven opposition candidates use a different hand signal to greet each other. They roll their fists in a circular motion, like the turning of two wheels, signifying they stand for change.
"We need change," says Samuel Asante, a taxi driver, whose meager salary hasn't changed much in the past eight years. "It's not good for one government to stay in power for so long. We want to keep them on their toes."
Polls open at 7 a.m. Sunday at an estimated 22,000 polling stations and close at 5 p.m. Early results are expected within days. The winner needs to secure more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.
Regardless of who wins, Ghanaians are keenly aware of the example they set. Ever since 1957 when they became the first nation in Africa to declare independence from their colonial ruler, Ghana has had the weight of history on its shoulders. For them, it's important that the election goes off without the all-too-common hooliganism, ballot stuffing and violence that continues to plague African elections.
On one local TV station, a group of activists paid to have a continuous ticker run along the bottom of the screen. It quotes the French novelist Albert Camus, who said: "Peace is the only battle worth waging."
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