GHANA: DEMOCRACY BUILDING SUCCESSES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 002150

SIPDIS

FSI FOR LMS/SPS - MCMULLEN
FSI FOR DEAN M. GUEST

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AFSI GH KDEM PGOV PHUM
SUBJECT: GHANA: DEMOCRACY BUILDING SUCCESSES

REF: A. SECSTATE 182307


B. ACCRA 00889

C. ACCRA 01644

D. GUEST-BRIDGEWATER EMAIL


1. Summary: In response to reftel A, post offers the
following lessons from its efforts to strengthen Ghana's
thirteen-year-old democracy. These lessons focus on our
efforts to enhance the USG's credibility with political
parties and human rights organizations, build capacity of
local governments and election machinery, and influence
passage of anti-trafficking legislation. End summary.

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BACKGROUND
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2. Ghana is a constitutional republic with a strong
presidency and a unicameral legislature with 230
parliamentary seats. Ghana has enjoyed democracy since 1992,
successfully conducting four national elections and many
by-elections. Ghana today boasts a lively civil society,
active media, reasonably independent judiciary, independent
Electoral Commission, and a good human rights record. There
is generally respect for rule of law, a high degree of social
tolerance, and no threat to national cohesion.


3. On the other hand, Ghana's democracy is in many ways
young and dysfunctional. Parliament is weak. The
Constitution requires that a majority of Ministers of State
(Ministers and Deputy Ministers) also be Members of
Parliament. Parliament has only once introduced its own bill
and it lacks the power to do so if a law involves
appropriating funds. Corruption is perceived as a growing
concern. Anti-corruption institutions are weak. Power is
highly centralized, with all District Chief Executives and
one third of District Assembly members appointed by the
president. Traditional authorities still wield significant
power, especially because they own most of the land in Ghana.
There are few women or Muslims in decisionmaking positons.
Rule of law is weak in many areas, including the police and
customs service. Violent crime and narcotics trafficking are
on the rise. Supporting Ghana's young democracy, through
advocacy and USAID, INL, DHRF and other programs remains a
top MPP priority. Below we offer some lessons learned from
our democracy-promotion over the past few years.

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LESSONS FROM ELECTION 2004
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Lesson 1: Pre-election Outreach Essential to Building
Credibility


4. In the run-up to Ghana's 2004 presidential and
parliamentary elections, post hosted separate
representational lunches for the party leadership of each of
Ghana's eight largest political parties, as well as the
entire leadership of the Electoral Commission and several
civil society groups. In each of these events, we emphasized
our commitment to free and fair elections, regardless of the
outcome. Poloffs and Pol FSN also traveled to each of Ghana's
ten regions prior to the election, meeting with party
officials and Electoral Commission reps, again reinforcing
the importance of free and fair elections. This intensive
outreach effort enhanced the USG's reputation as a neutral
advocate for democracy and helped overcome suspicions by some
parties that we were biased toward the ruling NPP party. An
extensive election-observing effort, which involved 50 teams
of Mission observers throughout the country (the largest
foreign observer deployment in Ghana),also bolstered our
credibility in ensuring this was a good election. When the
opposition NDC claimed the election was rigged, we were in a
position to counter this with observations from the field.
We have continued to engage the main opposition NDC party
with lunches and meetings, including with former President
Rawlings, which has further helped reduce perceptions that
the USG was biased against them.

Lesson 3: Encourage Local Ownership of Elections.


5. In Ghana's December 2004 elections, the USAID-funded
Coalition for Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) fielded
7,500 observers from 32 organizations, a huge increase over
the 5,000 fielded in 2000 and the largest number for any
nationwide election to date. USAID-Ghana views domestic
observers as critical to a free and fair election because
international observers incur more expenses and consequently
often cannot cover a country sufficiently to declare an
election free and fair. Domestic observers also speak local
languages and are more likely to detect intimidation or
fraud. Ghanaians displayed a great sense of ownership over
the election process and outcome.


6. USAID programs also supported Ghana's Electoral Commission
in developing policies for improved voter registration,
trained EC staff to implement correct regulations and
procedures, and trained political party representatives to
monitor registration and voting. In particular, party
representatives developed a greater understanding of election
rules and processes, boosting public confidence that the
outcome was the result of a transparent, free and fair
election. This also mitigated conflicts over voting results
that often arise from misunderstandings of election rules and
procedures.


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STRENGTHENING CIVIL SOCIETY-GOVERNMENT DIALOGUE
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Lesson 2: Build Trust with Stakeholders


7. On April 12, post hosted a Human Rights Roundtable for 18
NGO representatives, government officials and the media to
discuss our annual Human Rights report and to convey the
USG's commitment to combat human rights abuses (see reftel
B). Before the meeting, we sent each participant a copy of
our Human Rights and International Religious Freedom reports.
At the forum, stakeholders highlighted their concerns about
judicial corruption, prisoners who had never received a
hearing or trial and abuses of the mentally ill and disabled
in prayer camps. The forum gave Ghanaian human rights
activists and the media an opportunity to raise concerns
directly with police, judicial officials and other GOG
authorities in a neutral setting. In addition to helping us
produce more informed reports, our willingness to accept
feedback on the 2004 report and to solicit input for the 2005
report led to increased awareness of post's role on these
issues and to greater cooperation in information gathering.

Lesson 4: Focus on Government Capacity for Civil Society
Input.


8. USAID-Ghana's flagship Democracy and Governance program,
the $11 million Government Accountability Improves Trust
(GAIT) II program, strengthens linkages between district
assemblies and civil society organizations (CSOs). The
approach of its predecessor, GAIT I, was to build CSOs'
capacity to influence local government. GAIT II is succeeding
because it recognizes that local government's capacity must
be increased to meet civil society's demands on it. For
democracy building to work, the capacity of both must be
expanded.

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STRENGTHENING PARLIAMENT AND THE JUDICIARY
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Lesson 5: Seize Opportunities to Strengthen Democratic
Institutions.


9. In 2001, USAID-Ghana capitalized on a rare opportunity to
energize Ghana's parliament. When a Member of Parliament made
a floor statement on judicial corruption, The Speaker of
Parliament referred the matter to a committee where it could
have quickly withered.


10. USAID's Strengthening the Capacity of Parliament for
Enhanced Accountability and Civic Participation program,
however, provided the funding and technical assistance to the
judicial committee to investigate the alleged corruption.
High turnout at public forums on judicial corruption in the
regional capitals and massive media coverage from fall 2002
to the summer of 2003 encouraged Ghana's new Chief Justice
George Kinsley Acquah to incorporate recommendations from the
forums into his judicial reform plans.


11. Parliament's investigation and forums made clear its
unique role and powers to a Ghanaian public that had little
experience with a vigorous legislature. Two years later,
Acquah is still the highest ranking official in Ghana to
actively speak out on corruption. He issues an annual report
on the judiciary branch, has removed corrupt judges and
criticizes other members of the judiciary for inaction and
inefficiency.

Lesson 6: Coordination and Persistence Key to Pushing Passage
of Legislation.


12. Through outreach programs, media efforts and pressure on
GOG officials, post had an important role to play in Ghana's
July 28 passage of anti-trafficking in persons legislation
which had been languishing for several years (see reftel C).
For months, Embassy officials pressed for passage in meetings
with President Kufuor, the Speaker of Parliament, the
Minority Leader and Deputy Majority Leader, Cabinet members
and other stakeholders.


13. On June 3, Accra was the first post this year to hold a
digital video conference with the Office to Monitor and
Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP). The DVC was used to
inform journalists, human rights activists and GOG officials
that Ghana had dropped to Tier 2 in our annual Trafficking in
Persons (TIP) report. Just as the program began, post
received notice that Ghana's anti-TIP legislation was
introduced to Parliament after being stalled for three years.
This DVC generated a number of news stories and editorials in
the Ghanaian press.

14. On July 14 the PolChief drew from comments provided by
G/TIP to present the USG's views on the draft bill in
hearings organized by Parliament's Committee on Gender and
Children. This presentation, which led to several changes
in the bill, and the Embassy's close attention to the bill
throughout its parliamentary readings demonstrated the USG's
interest in its passage. A July 29 G/TIP visit coincided with
the bill's passage, and post exploited the timing to host a
press conference on trafficking and to meet key organizations
and GOG officials fighting human trafficking.


15. Coordinating the Department's announcement of the annual
TIP report with activities at post helped build momentum for
passage, raised the USG's profile on this issue in Ghana and
strengthened post's relationships with key ministries,
international organizations and NGOs. In August, these
efforts paid off as the GOG reported its joint effort with
the Government of Cote d'Ivoire to rescue 18 children from a
cross-border trafficking scheme.

BRIDGEWATER