Chalewote Festival

Gutted to be missing this, this year. Thought I would share so you can enjoy.

The Chalewote street art festival has been going on for a few years now.

Here's a map provided by the organisers.

And here's the e-zine so you know what's where when.

Do what you can and get down there. 

#August29 #ElectionPetition : #TheVerdict

#August29 #ElectionPetition #TheVerdict

The above will link to long discussions about the election petition.

The Verdict is as follows:

1. Overvoting - Dismissed 5-4
2. Voting without biometric verification - Dismissed 6-3
3. Absence of signature - Dismissed 5-4
4. Duplicate serial numbers - Dimissed 9-0
5. Duplicate Polling Station Numbers - Dismissed 9-0
6. Unknown polling stations - Dismissed 9-0

On twitter there is undoubtedly a buzz and now the conversation has shifted from the emptiness of Accra to the celebrations of NDC supporters. John Dramani Mahama (well his media team) came out to celebrate online.

The Supreme Court has spoken and validated our Dec2012 victory. Let peace rein. This is a victory for Ghana's democracy. Long live #Ghana.
— John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) August 29, 2013

Nana Akufo-Addo released a speech by phone asking his supporters to take pride in the way they have conducted themselves throughout. Whether we're happy with the result or not, it's finished now. Let's hope we can use the next 3 years to avoid the problems that have blighted the country in the first 2 quarters of this year.

Chapter closed.

Follow @thebellower

The Run Up to #August29: Verdict Prediction

GhanaDecides as already put this question out there. How do we think the verdict will go?

The BIG question: How do you think the verdict will go? #Ghana #ElectionPetitiion @retornam @thebellower @readJerome @niibadger @arielghana
— Ghana Decides (@GhanaDecides) August 23, 2013

To which I say:

@GhanaDecides NDC will remain in power. EC reforms suggested, Afari-Gyan will step down, NPP will be noted for strengthening democracy...
— Charlene (@thebellower) August 23, 2013

@GhanaDecides i also think it's the best possible outcome. hopefully won't be used to score points in 2016. we now all know our state better
— Charlene (@thebellower) August 23, 2013

This is a well-informed prediction. I'm trying to be realistic and not biased. My bias may lead me to want different things but how I see it happening is how I've described it above. I've said it's the best possible outcome because I think the outcome of the other option is not as assured to bring us peace. I don't think any party would take it lightly that they were in power for 8 months and then suddenly not. We will see if my predictions are correct. Let me know if you think my justifications are too.

The Run Up to #August29: Winner Takes All versus Democracy

Now all this "power sharing" came from the idea that "Winner Takes All" is bad. The phrase winner takes all in the democracy context derives from the first-past-the-post (FPTP) method of candidate selection and often means majority government. It is what governs the way we choose our parliamentarians but not our President because the President requires 50% + 1 vote. Now we have two different methods of selection in Ghana. This also means that it is technically possible for the President to represent a different party from the majority of parliament. Someone said on JoyNews that we have "majoritarian politics" with the Executive and Legislature - that's not exactly true. Parliament is majority NDC and if Nana Akufo Addo was to win he would not import with him MPs to represent all the constituencies in which he manages to overturn votes. So he would be President with an NPP cabinet and an NDC parliament. But I've digressed a bit since the likelihood of that is slim to none.

Winner Takes All now means in Ghana that whoever controls the Presidency pretty much controls everything. Why? Because Ministers and Deputy Ministers do not need to be elected persons, in whom the public have shown trust. MMDCEs are also not elected but nominated by the President. The Assemblies are not elected. Everything leads back to the President. That means Ghana is a centralised democracy. It almost leads me to use the word democracy very loosely indeed. The winner would not take all, if there were greater autonomy in the metropolises, municipals and districts. The people could hold their local representatives to account and this would ease tensions against political parties on a national level. In Adenta, the Assembly is not happy with their DCE because she is not doing enough to promote NDC interests in the area, but the position of DCE is a state position, not a party position. She owes it to the people she governs to prioritise real life matters above the NDC's interest and if she's been making those correct priorities she's about to be punished for a job well done! See what party politics, winner takes all, we-care-more-about-3-little-letters-than-we-do-about-policies-and-development mentality does to our country. Even the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, self-titled Accra Mayor did not find it necessary to apologise for a massive mistake that was received terribly by the people of Accra until "his oga" the President ordered an apology and marched him down to an old lady's house for a photo-op to confirm the apology. Winner Takes All in Ghana means we live in a dictatorship, and we can change the name and face of the dictator and his crew every four years, if we choose to but the longer they maintain this dictatorial structure the harder it becomes to differentiate the difference between the two because our experiences of them (in the way they interact with us) are the same.

What is needed therefore is not power sharing between parties in the Executive but real decentralisation, real competition by policies and real governance by policies. I've spoken on how Ghana uses the #MyOgaAtTheTop mentality which is a product of the Winner Takes All structure of the country's governance. Change that and we'll all be winners taking what's needed!

[p.s. if anyone could put me in touch with other decentralisation campaigners in Ghana that would be greatly appreciated. my twitter handle is @thebellower ]

The Run Up to #August29: Judgement Day and Peace

Here are the buzz phrases in Ghana this week:

"Winner Takes All"
"let us share"
"power-sharing"
"peace"
"judgement day"

Now I'm not surprised about "judgement day" Ghanaians always find a way to super impose concepts of religion into life. "Judgement Day" in Ghana takes two interpretations. One the surface it is simply the day that the verdict of the court proceedings will be announced and confirmed. But in reality in the minds of every Ghanaian, it is the day they will have to look back on all they have seen, said and done this year and ask "was it all worth it?" just as we will have to on the real Judgement Day. Judgement day in Ghana is a test for our temperament apparently, since everyone thinks Ghanaians are going to recreate, Rwanda, Cote d'Ivoire or Kenya up in the place! That all comes with no historical basis and for that reason I implore journalists and bloggers to refrain from speaking as if it does. Yes we would like to be declaring "peace" before rather than after chaos, but as my very Nigerian father likes to say "if I call you three times, it should be enough". Think about that.

 Now onto the solution to judgement day, to apparently guarantee this peace - "power-sharing". If I understand correctly this first popped up its head when Dr. Adjei (Chairman of the NDC) gave a speech at the NPP's 21st Anniversary in which he said "we've all been in opposition from time to time, we've all been in government from time to time, there's no need for winner takes all...let us share" (paraphrasing). It was received well by the opposition party, maybe because they were already in a joyous mood, maybe because everyone is now treading on eggshells in relation to disagreeing with people, maybe because that's what they wanted all along! Either way it was received well. Few others, including men of God have since come out to say that they've been praying for that all this while - I wish they would have told us earlier so we could have told them not to bother God with such foolishness.

A power sharing agreement does not help any country. I beg those who suggest it to name one country that has prospered economically, and in terms of progressive policies and successful implementation, as a result of power sharing. The two major parties in Ghana look to be closer to centre than they are to their own respective polars because they don't really campaign on policies but rather on what they dislike about each other and who can afford the most Chinese-made tshirts to distribute for free! In reality, they are different and even if they worked on their similarities for the next 3.3 years both parties have not had an impressive anti-corruption record. I fear as some have already pointed out that it will mean rife corruption of "you take some, I take some" all in the name of fairness and sharing that will leave Ghanaian citizens who are not in the political class powerless to demand reform. Multiparty democracy - it does what it says on the tin so stop this "power sharing" nonsense.

*UPDATE* I forgot to say that President Mahama also felt the same way as me, at the Times CEO Summit in the first half of the year he is quoted as saying "Ghana does not have the danger that Kenya has" CASE RESTED.