US embassy cable - 05ACCRA2150

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 
-------------------------- 
 
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. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
STRENGTHENING CIVIL SOCIETY-GOVERNMENT DIALOGUE 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
 
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 
------------------------------------------ 
 
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