Zuma vows to unite South Africa

Jacob Zuma: 'We must... begin a new chapter of harmony and collaboration'Jacob Zuma, the man expected to become South Africa's president after his ANC party's convincing electoral win, has said he will work to unite the country."We have gone through a difficult period... it is now time to put it all behind us," he said after the ANC's fourth term in office was confirmed.The ANC won 65.9% but fell just short of its previous two-thirds majority.Mr Zuma was dogged by corruption and sex scandals and the party split last year when he stood for leader. A two-thirds majority in parliament is needed to change the constitution.  They [some journalists] now find the two-thirds [majority] is an issue instead of congratulating the ANC for winning decisively  Jacob Zuma  ANC leader Rejecting opposition allegations, Mr Zuma added that the ANC (African National Congress) posed no threat to the constitution. The ANC will have 264 seats in parliament - just short of a two-thirds majority. See a table of the results The official opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), will have 67 seats while in third place with 30 seats is the Congress of the People (Cope) - the party formed by Mosiuoa Lekota as a result of the ANC split. South Africa is priding itself tonight on a well-run and highly successful election, BBC South Africa correspondent Peter Biles reports from Pretoria. The excitement and enthusiasm of voters had reminded everyone of the country's first democratic elections in 1994, he adds. Mr Zuma will be sworn in as president in two weeks' time after his election by the new parliament. Enigmatic leader The ANC won 69.69% of the vote in the last election in 2004, when it was led by Thabo Mbeki, and 66.35% in 1999. HAVE YOUR SAY I am hoping that Jacob Zuma will lead by example Ntombi, Cape Town Mr Zuma told reporters he was happy with the ANC's share of the vote, which dropped by nearly 4%. "It's not a disappointment," he said. "I know that some of your colleagues were trying to shift the goalposts when we have won with a decisive majority. They now find the two-thirds is an issue instead of congratulating the ANC for winning decisively." During the election campaign, DA leader Helen Zille had urged South Africans to deny the ANC a two-thirds majority, arguing that the party would use it to protect Mr Zuma from new corruption charges. Previous charges of corruption against Mr Zuma were dropped just two weeks before the poll after state prosecutors said there had been political interference in the case. Jacob Zuma (left) was congratulated by SA President Kgalema Motlanth In February 2006, Mr Zuma was acquitted of rape in a separate case, though he was widely criticised for his comments about sex and HIV/Aids. The challenges which confront Mr Zuma as president include a struggling economy and soaring violent crime. "We are concerned about the potential impact of the global economic crisis," he said in his speech on Saturday. "We will work with all stakeholders, especially business and labour, to find ways to prevent and cushion our people against job losses and other difficulties that may arise." The BBC's Africa analyst, Martin Plaut, says the ANC leader is still something of an enigma - part Zulu traditionalist, part international leader who jets around the world. During the fight against apartheid Mr Zuma was head of internal security for the ANC, when some people were killed and some tortured. It is not clear how much he knew or sanctioned, says our correspondent. But Mr Zuma is also a skilled conciliator, credited with ending the political violence in KwaZulu-Natal and helping to bring peace to Burundi. Opposition boost The ANC lost Western Cape province - centre of the tourist industry - to the DA although it made inroads against the Inkatha Freedom Party in Kwazulu-Natal, home province of Mr Zuma. Helen Zille, who received a hero's welcome in Cape Town, told the BBC the opposition had managed to reduce the ANC's grip on the country. "The results are very good for South Africa," she told Focus on Africa. "The ANC is below the two-thirds majority they need to adversely change the constitution."

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South Africans Living Abroad Can Vote Says Court

Election 2009:  Constitutional Court Ruling –  Registered Overseas Voters Can Vote   The Constitutional Court on 12 March 2009 ruled on the eligibility of  South African citizens being able to vote abroad.   The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) issued the following statement in this regard:   QUOTE   Following the Constitutional Court ruling of today, 12 March 2009, the IEC will release a formal, official public statement on the matter in due course. In the interim, the following may be used to update your missions abroad:   “South African citizens who are registered voters in South Africa and who intend to vote outside of South Africa in Elections 2009 are required to notify the IEC of South Africa of their intention to vote outside of South Africa by 27 March 2009. The notification period has been extended by the Constitutional Court ruling of 12 March 2009.   To notify the IEC, registered voters are required to complete a VEC 10 form and return it to the IEC by 27 March 2009 at fax No. +27 12 428 5279 or +27 12 428 5711 (alternative fax line).   To check if you are a registered voter, on the IEC’s web site go to “Am I registered” and type in your identity number on-line.   Voting outside of South Africa for Elections 2009 will occur on 15 April 2009 (and not on 22 April 2009) at South African Diplomatic and Consular missions abroad. Once your notification to vote outside of South Africa is approved by the IEC, you are required to present both your bar-coded South African citizenship identity document (or valid temporary identity certificate) and your (South African) passport to a South African Diplomatic or Consular mission on 15 April 2009.  In this regard, a citizen registered to vote outside the Republic will present both his/her bar-coded South African citizenship identity document (or valid temporary identity certificate) as well as his/her South African passport when voting.”   Stuart Murphy Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), South Africa

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Multinational Corporations: The New Colonisers in Africa

Before the end of colonialism African nations were properties of their colonial masters who did what they could to rape the continent of whatever resource they deem good for the development of their citizens in Europe. Out of nowhere and without any consultation with the people in the continent the Europeans met and divided the continent amongst themselves in what has been termed the scramble for Africa. Through the scramble France, Britain, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy all went on a looting spree raping Africa of her resources without putting any of the proceeds back for the development of the continent.

When US President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Gambia in the 1940s he was so appalled by the conditions of Gambians so much so that he made this lamentation,

“It's the most horrible thing I have ever seen in my life..... The natives are five thousand years back of us....The British have been there for two hundred years - for every dollar that the British have put into Gambia, they have taken out ten. It's just plain exploitation of those people”- US President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1943.

And the exploitation was not peculiar to only Gambia. Gold Coast (now Ghana), Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Zaire (now DRC), Namibia, South Africa, Congo and Angola all suffered from the same colonial exploitation and underinvestment.

For almost three hundred years the Europeans who were supposedly devout Christians and civilised, irresponsibly looted Africa’s resources and made slaves of the natives without developing the colonies. When the local population protested against the exploitation without a reciprocal investment they were brutally crashed as happened in Congo (now DRC) where King Leopold II of Belgium looted the resources, made slaves, and killed close to ten million of the Congolese.

In 1904 to 1907 the Germans led by Gen. Lotha Von Trotha also committed their first genocide of the 20th Century by killing the 90% of the Herero and the Namaqua people of South West Africa (Namibia) when the people protested against the exploitation of their resources. And the sad stories of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Namibia, Kenya and Angola where people were denied access to land, citizenship and basic rights and had to take up arms before they were granted independence are in many history books. We know how Nelson Mandela (now a hero in Europe) and a number of freedom fighters had to endure long prison sentences, torture, exile and deaths in the hands of their devout Christians and civilised European colonisers. The idea was that through the scramble for Africa they had bought Africa and had power to do as they pleased hence the rape, torture, genocide and the mass killings.

While Europeans became richer Africans became poorer. For example with the loot of Congo’s resources, enslavement, amputations of hands and 10 million deaths, Brussels which now doubles as the capital of the European Union and Belgium was built.

Most of the people in the continent at the time of independence could not read and write and were living in abject poverty; their farm lands had been taken away from them; and were denied citizenship in their own land as witnessed in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

When they were given their ‘freedom’ the independent fathers inherited nothing more than empty treasuries. They realised that after more than 300 hundred years of colonial rule their colonial masters have left them nothing, no money and no infrastructure.

This bad situation and their eagerness to improve the lives of their peoples forced them to turn to the IMF and World Bank for assistance and when they went lo and behold the colonial masters were there waiting for them. The colonisers used their majority votes to dictate to the Bank and IMF on how these former colonies should be helped. (Of the 185 members that make up the IMF six colonial masters and their allies made up of the United States, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Italy control 42% of the votes).  The colonial masters dictated to the IMF and the Bank that for Africans to be helped, they must open their economies to allow European corporations to come in. This underscores the numerous conditionalities that are associated with loans from these institutions and the conditionalities are nothing more than a smokescreen designed to ensure that Europeans never loose their grip on the resources of the colonies. Some of the conditionalities include instituting secrets memorandums of agreement, subsidies to foreign corporations and massive tax concessions (such as income tax, usage fees, property tax) -the primary source of revenue for “export-oriented” developing countries

The sad thing is that Africans thought independence would give them respite to develop but this was never to be as the colonial masters used their corporations and intelligence services to deliver vengeance against the people: encouraging and financing civil wars; unashamedly polluting rivers, wells and the soil through their oil and mineral activities; understating their profits and falsifying profit documents; undervaluing their goods, smuggling and theft; false invoicing and non-payment of taxes; kickback to public officials and bribery; over pricing of projects; providing save havens for the looted funds; and promoting the sale of guns; overthrowing African leaders; supporting dictatorships; and assassinating those who disagree with them. We know the tragedy of Patrice Lumumba and the support the West gave Mobutu.

In addition to these, the corporations who were forced onto Africa by IMF the Bank, US and Europe have been implicated in a number of cases for corrupting African leaders and stealing trillions of dollars worth of resources. Global Financial Integrity says, “$900-billion is secreted each year from underdeveloped economies, with an estimated $11.5 trillion currently stashed in havens. More than one quarter of these hubs belong to the UK, while Switzerland washes one-third of global capital flight”. Out of this $900b that is secreted away yearly $150b comes from Africa.

“The idea that Switzerland has a clean economy is a joke; it is a dirt-driven economy,” says Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research LLP. The Swiss Bankers Association claims that four-fifths of the nation supports banking secrecy, which reveals a society deeply embedded in a culture of impunity and exploitation. The fact is that those who steal must find a way to hide their loot and Switzerland provide the ideal environment for such crimes to take place. And it is not Switzerland alone that does not have a clean economy. Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg can all be described as vampires.

In an article by Khadija Sharife entitled Capital Flight: Gingerbread Havens, Cannibalised Economies she wrote: “The IMF and World Bank tax policies towards the developing world is very lethal especially where the poor are now caught in tax brackets, courtesy of the IMF and World Bank’s structural adjustment programmes (SAP), instituting policies ranging from tax holidays to the privatisation of state services, carving out huge slices of natural capital at corporate auctions. Africa has collectively lost more than $600-billion in capital flight, excluding other mechanisms of flight such as ecological debt (globally estimated at a potential $1.8-trillion per annum), the cost of liberalised trade (just under $300-billion)”. Source: www.greenleft.au. Thus with the support and collusion of IMF and the Bank these corporations are paying close to nothing for the resources they take from Africa.

Africa has been labelled the world’s most corrupt region because multinational internal mispricing makes up 60% of capital outflow, with corporations declaring profits in tax havens, as opposed to the country of performance. Corporations declare about 40% of their profits in African countries where they operate and siphon the rest into their save havens accounts in order to avoid paying tax which could be used to eradicate poverty. And this is not the end of the corruption and the day light robbery story.

We know how Elf operated as an arm of the French state supporting dictators, looting the resources and establishing flush fund which was used to bribe African leaders so they will look the other way why Elf loot Africa’s oil and gas.

Nicholas Shaxson, author of Poisoned Wells, wrote of the subject: “Magistrates discovered the money from Elf’s African operations supplied bribes to support French commercial, military and diplomatic goals around the world. In exchange, French troops protected compliant African dictators.”

This explains why there are so many corrupt dictators in French-Speaking Africa than anywhere in Africa. Omar Bongo, Eyadema, Mobutu, Lansana Conte, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Blaise Campore, Sassou Nguesso and Iddriss Deby are some of the compliant leaders who were or have been protected by France. And what happened to the non-compliant African leaders? Your guess is mine. Please find time to read more about Bob Denard, a French who made a career as a mercenary overthrowing African leaders. French author Jean Guisner says: “Denard did nothing that was contrary to French interests - and he allegedly acted in close cooperation with French Intelligence Services”.

In the Elf corruption case Andre Tarallo the real boss of Elf-Afrique “told the court in June 2003 that annual cash transfers totalling about £10m were made to Omar Bongo, Gabon's president, while other huge sums were paid to leaders in Angola, Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville. The multi-million dollar payments were partly paid to ensure the African leaders' continued allegiance to France. In return for protection and sweeteners from Elf's coffers, France used Gabon as a base for military and espionage activities in West Africa”. Source: Guardian, Nov. 2003.

The real deal is that Elf, Shell BP and their counterparts in Europe and America pay bribes to African leaders to induce them to look the other way why they plunder the resources. Ask any Gabonese or Congolese whether they have benefited from the oil and diamonds and the answer will be a big no.  What is so tragic is that the people know they have oil, diamonds and see these companies processing them everyday yet do not know where it goes, who buys them and where the proceeds go.

In UK former Prime Minister Tony Blair was accused of selling a device with an ageing technology to Tanzania. “The UK sold a useless air traffic control system to Tanzania in 2001 in a scandalous and squalid deal, the House of Commons was told.” Clare Short an MP said, “The deal was useless and hostile to the interests of Tanzania”. She said, “Barclays Bank had colluded with the government by loaning Tanzania the money, but lying to the World Bank about the type and size of the loan.” Ms Short said “Tanzania could have paid much less for the same equipment which cost them £28m”. Shadow international development secretary Andrew Mitchell said “BAE had used ageing technology and said the system was not adequate and too expensive.” Source: BBCNEWS, Wednesday, 31 January 2007.

And it all happened after they had bought Tanzania officials to look the other way while a device with an ageing technology was being sold to the country. BAE colluded with Tony Blair and Barclays Bank to sell a useless commodity at exorbitant price to Tanzania. This is nothing but a continuation of the contempt and impunity in which Europeans have treated Africa before, during and after colonialism. BAE is indirectly saying that Africans do not deserve the latest technology even if they pay cat throat price. It is also a message to Africans that they must develop their own technology and not rely on the generosity of others.

It is no secrete that Shell Oil Company colluded with the corrupt Abacha regime to steal oil, pollute the rivers, wells, creeks and soil and render millions of famers and fishermen in the Niger Delta jobless. Shell “admitted that it inadvertently fed conflict, poverty and corruption through its oil activities in the country. Nigeria contributes to about 10% of Shell's global production and is home to some of its most promising reserves, yet the country is steeped in poverty and conflict”. Source: bbcnews 18 June 2004. So Shell in addition to stealing Nigeria’s oil and polluting rivers, wells, soils also promote corruption, poverty and conflict.   

In DRC about five million people have died in a war whose motive is to satisfy the West insatiable appetite for high quality but low price cell phones, laptop computers, play-stations, jewels, diamond and coltan. And who cares for five million deaths in Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin, New York or Washington anyway? Why has the DRC war not ended? Who supply the rebels their arms and for what and who buys the minerals they mine illegally? Why have Uganda and Rwanda forces crossed several times into DRC? And whose agenda are they pursuing? A report by the UN says it all.

The panel calls for financial restrictions to be levied on 54 individuals and 29 companies it said are involved in the plunder, including four Belgian diamond companies and the Belgian company George Forrest, which is partnered with the U.S.-based OM Group.  The individuals named include Rwandan army Chief of Staff James Kabarebe, Congolese Minister of the Presidency Augustin Katumba Mwanke, Ugandan army Chief of Staff James Kazini and Zimbabwean Parliament Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, BBC Online reports (Oct. 21, 2002). The report also accused 85 South African, European and U.S. multinational corporations – including Anglo American, Barclays Bank, Bayer, De Beers and Cabot Corporation of violating the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's ethical guidelines on conflict zones.

The guidelines they were accused of violating relate to arming Rwanda, Uganda and Congolese rebels and profiting from their illegal looting of Congo’s minerals as the following excerpt shows:

“Despite the recent withdrawal of most foreign forces, the exploitation of Congo's resources continues, the report says, with elite networks and criminal groups tied to the military forces of Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe benefiting from micro-conflicts in the D.R.C.”"The elite networks derive financial benefit through a variety of criminal activities, including theft, embezzlement, diversion of public funds, undervaluation of goods, smuggling, false invoicing, non-payment of taxes, kickback to public officials and bribery," and added that such pillaging is responsible for much of the death and malnutrition in eastern D.R.C.” Source: www.unwire.org. And so while millions die in Africa with the complicity of the corporations, Europe and North American citizens with all their hypocrisy live to enjoy lavish holidays. And when Africans try to reach Europe the citizens say rain in on them Europe is full no more immigrants. Where do the queens and kings in Europe get the diamonds and gold that they use to show off? Is it not from the blood diamonds from Congo, Sierra Leone and conflict zones in Africa that are smuggled out and sold in Brussels, Zurich, London and New York?

And this is not their only crime. We know how Halliburton established $180m flush fund and bought Nigeria officials to secure a $10b oil contract. We know Acre International of Canada paid $260,000 to secure $8b dam contract in Lesotho. We know Swiss, British, German and French economies and banking institutions have made fortunes by providing save havens for funds looted by Sani Abacha, Mobutu, Omar Bongo, Lansana Conte, Arap Moi and the rest of the dictators in Africa. And it is no secrete Belgium is angry with DRC government for inviting China into the country because they are privy to and beneficiary of all the day light robberies going on in the resource rich but economically impoverished country.

Africans know that these corporations are making fortunes but see no benefits from these fortunes. Ghanaians know gold and diamond are being mined at Obuasi and Akwatia but they do not know where it goes, who buys them and where the proceeds go and the same is true of the oil in Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon, Algeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea and as for DRC a nation with one-third of world’s natural resources the little I say the better. This corruption and day light robbery is what has been dressed up as globalisation which Europe, America, IMF and the Bank want Africa and the third world to join. My question is whose globalisation? Is it the globalisation that only those with blue eyes enjoy or what? If the answer is no then the IMF and the Bank should explain why the world is divided between the “whites haves and the coloured have-nots”.

 Dr. Susan Hawley says it all: “Multinational corporations’ corrupt practices affect the South (i.e. Africa, Asia and Latin America) in many ways. They undermine development and exacerbate inequality and poverty. They disadvantage smaller domestic firms and transfer money that could be put towards poverty eradication into the hands of the rich. They distort decision-making in favour of projects that benefit the few rather than the many. They also increase debt that benefit the company, not the country; bypass local democratic processes; damage the environment; circumvent legislation; and promote weapons sales. Bribes put up the prices of projects. When these projects are paid for with money borrowed internationally, bribery adds to a country's external debt. Ordinary people end up paying this back through cuts in spending on health, education and public services. Often they also have to pay by shouldering the long-term burdens of projects that do not benefit them and which they never requested”. Source: The Corner House, June 2000.

And in all these, the Western media have kept silence and have not raise a voice against what their governments, intelligence services, corporations and businessmen are doing to Africans. They prefer instead to criticise China for courting the same African leaders Euro-Americans have been protecting for decades. A clear hypocrisy isn’t it? These are the same criticisms King Leopold II levelled against the Arabs who were competing with him for resources and slaves in Congo and we know what Leopold, the 19^th century Hitler did in DRC in the name of Christianity and civilisation.

The meaning of their criticism is that with China as a fierce competitor, Africans now have a choice not to go to the World Bank and IMF for conditional loans. They also have a choice to either give their resources to Chinese companies or European and American cartels. It may be the beginning of the end of colonialism, slavery, instabilities, dictatorships, corruption and all the ills that Europeans and Americans have been promoting in Africa.

It may be the beginning where Africa’s resources will be bought and payment made to the people and a new chapter that will usher in Africa’s development and close the poverty gap from five thousand years to perhaps one-hundred as observed by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Political Activist and Anti-Corruption Campaigner.

 He blogs at www.iloveafrica2.blogspot.com

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Rawlings advises African leaders on sound democracy

Former President Jerry John Rawlings on Saturday delivered a lecture on democracy as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the installation of the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

Speaking under the topic, “Ghana's Democracy - The Way Forward” at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Mr Rawlings enumerated some points in which he entreated African leaders to consider in order to ensure a sound democracy across the continent.

“I would like to conclude by asking Africa to do one thing, and one thing only.

“Please place yourself in the shoes of the masses who are poor, hungry and deprived. With this empathy as your guiding and driving force, you can't go wrong.”

He also took a cursory look at his AFRC regime, Ghana's return to democratic rule from 1992 to the present administration.

Below is the full text.

Mr Chairman, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am honoured to be taking part in events marking the 10th anniversary of the installation of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II as Asantehene.

When I first received the invitation to be part of this forum I wondered what my detractors would say about me tackling such a subject.

It has become fashionable by a select few who have unfettered access to the media to tag me as a serial coup maker with no democratic credentials whatsoever. Some have even accused me of being on the verge of another coup because I have been critical of the Mills administration. 

Let me start right here on the issue of Democracy and Security in Africa.

Article 27 (8) of the AFRICAN CHARTER ON DEMOCRACY, ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE states:

“In order to advance political, economic and social governance, State Parties shall commit themselves to promoting freedom of expression.” 

Ghana has accepted this Charter and I therefore reserve my right to freedom of expression. I rest my case on this issue. 

Ladies and gentleman, I am asking you today:

Is Ghana a democracy in the true sense?

If your answer is yes, then we can talk about deepening that democracy. If your answer is no, then we first have to focus on establishing that democracy. My address to you today will cover three areas, and I will try to keep it as short as possible.

1. DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA

a. The birth and nourishment of democracy in Ghana

b. Ghana 2009 – A democracy or not?

2. DEMOCRACY AND SECURITY IN AFRICA

a. What are Africa's threats?

b. Democracy and the protecting of the people against these threats

3. DEMOCRACY AND SECURITY IN AFRICA – QUO VADIS?

Many politicians are of the view that they only are answerable to the electorate during political campaigns. Once elected they then lord the power over the very people on whose shoulders they rose to power and adopt an autocratic posture, which has led to disastrous consequences in many an African country.

My definition of democracy transcends the average view of electing leaders through the popular ballot. I will primarily discuss the Ghanaian situation because I have been an active participant for thirty years. In other words I am domesticating my definition of democracy.

Democracy must have the basic tenets of probity, accountability, justice and freedom. Receiving the will of the people and then sinking into a state of somnolence and a disregard for the will of the people cannot be democracy but unfortunately this country has gone through such periods even in the recent past.

Unelected democracy has preceded all forms of refined democracies and political forms across the world. The Russian Revolution swept away the Tsarist autocracy and the French Revolution uprooted the bourgeoisies who controlled France. As Africans we should be proud that we have evolved our own democracy. Democracy did not start with what the colonialists gave us at independence. That turned out to be a complete failure.

For those who do not understand the best example is the evolution of British parliamentary system, which was originally, controlled by one House whose members were the "Lords of the land" but which had to give way to the House of Lords following a series of violent political upheavals. The name House of Commons derives from house of ordinary people. Today the House of Lords is all but becoming an anachronism in the United Kingdom and there is a strong debate about abolishing it all together. 

Ladies and gentleman,Democracy is about what the people want and need, not about what the rulers think the people want or need.

The years that followed from 1966 to 1979 were years that led to a situation that can best be described by a quotation from a feature published in 2006 titled “June 4 The Awakening of Ghana.”:

Ghana was in coma by the end of 1978. There were many events that brought Ghana to her technical death (coma) in the years that followed Independence. Events such as Coups, military governments, four digit inflation, massive corruption, acute food shortages, smuggling, black marketeering (Kalabule) just to mention the few. Prior to June 4 1979, Ghana's economy never existed...The rains stopped falling. The fishes vanished from our rivers and the sea. The bushes and the forests were so dried waiting for the fires. Our abundant bush meat were nowhere to be found. Accra, other cities and towns were as miserable as an orphan, and the only thing visible were the long queues.”

June 4 1979 to 31 December, 1981

In 1979 Ghana was headed in a direction where the military top brass were playing Russian roulette with our political leadership and taking over power at will. The mutiny of May 15 was meant to pre-empt the likelihood of a very explosive situation. It was meant to be a call for the re-institution of sanity and integrity within the armed forces by demanding the leadership to purge itself and the armed forces of the corrupt ones.

The situation was so dire and many in the junior ranks had reached a point where they did not believe in the hierarchy anymore because the values had sunk to an all time low. There were clear signs that the economy of the country had collapsed, the will of the people ignored and corruption was a national pastime.

While such interventions are difficult to justify because of the baggage they carry, when the elected ignore the tenets of probity, accountability, freedom and justice they become unavoidable.

The events of the June 4 revolt was an expression of national rage at the abysmal failure of the leadership to stem the tide of corruption which was eating away the very soul of Ghana.

The regime that took over following that revolt appeared oblivious to what had just taken place and almost immediately sunk into the status quo preceding June 4. They perceived June 4 as a barracks issue and failed to recognise that the whole nation was in state of rage but were denied a right to give expression by the military, which bore the price.

PNDC Era – 31 December 1981 to November 1992

The PNP government's inaction and poverty of ideas almost took us back to the pre-June 4 era and created an atmosphere of despair and disenchantment particularly amongst the civilian population who had wrongly assumed sanity was finally going to prevail with the advent of the Third Republic. In punishing corruption June 4 had in effect sparked so much hope that accountability, transparency and integrity had come to stay. The shock and lessons of June 4 appeared lost on the PNP regime who embarked on punishing June 4 in the barracks and that was one of the contributory factors that necessitated the advent of the 31st December intervention. 

Another expression of the betrayal of June 4 would have been simply uncontrollable.

I will be the first to express regrets at the excesses of the AFRC and PNDC regimes of which I was the Chairman, but Ghana had to go through a phase where the people had to take control of their destiny through a popular uprising even if it was manifested through the military.

That latent energy from June 4 was transformed into productive energy during the PNDC era. The ten years of the PNDC was an era to end the rot through what we termed housecleaning and instilling a culture of accountability, discipline, and economic resuscitation. It was not an easy journey as the country was saddled with a serious drought, which affected food and energy production. 

The adoption and implementation of the Economic Recovery Programme helped to stem the economic downslide and ensured that some development projects could take place.

The social sense of responsibility and natural justice in that non-constitutional era was so high that the judiciary were not needed to do justice to the people. The self-empowerment had led to a higher quality of justice at no cost – the courts had become irrelevant. The spontaneity towards natural justice gave true meaning to democracy.

The Fourth Republic: 1992 – 2001 and NDC Rule

Constitutional democracy was returned in 1992 with the citizenry understanding that:

1. The leaders are chosen by the people to represent the people;

2. It will be the responsibility and duty of the people to remove those leaders if they fail to represent the people.

The Fourth Republic: 2001 Transition

Constitutionality took some of the refreshing human spontaneity towards natural justice away but nevertheless the year 2001 Ghana saw a milestone in African democracy - an elected president ended his first tenure, was re-elected and ended a second tenure. Subsequently power was handed over to another president after the expiration of two terms of my presidency.

The stability and smooth transitions recorded within the first eight years of the Fourth Republic was a true manifestation of the will of the people and a belief in the leadership they had elected. No government is without its negatives and I am convinced that my government had some flaws but what was important was the fact that we were never alienated from the ordinary folk who elected us into power to move this country forward. Discordant tones there might have been but the discord was not strong enough to metamorphose into a public uprising. Gauging the mood of the people is always paramount to good governance. A failure to do so is a recipe for disaster.

Crucially important for the successful management of any democracy is the need for leadership to allow institutions of governance to work effectively without interference. The Commission on Human Rights (CHRAJ), The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and all the institutions of government played their roles effectively. Indeed some members of the NDC government were affected by adverse findings by some of these institutions. Embarrassing, as these may have been it sent a strong message to all that democracy was really at work and elected leaders were not above the law. The Fourth Republic: 2001 – 2009 NPP RuleThe election of the New Patriotic Party's John Kufuor in 2000 gave further boost to the development of our democracy. Many had serious doubts about the intention of Rawlings to hand over power and respect the will of the people, particularly if his party's candidate lost the election. Little needs to be said about the smoothness of the transition. You were all witnesses.

Contrary to the assertion that their tradition was truly democratic the NPP government was an excellent example of an undemocratic regime. Once you belonged to the party you did no wrong. Every effort was made to obliterate the P/NDC legacy and the institutions of government were so politicised that even when they took decisions against government officials such decisions were disregarded with impunity.

Ghana once again sunk into a democracy of nepotism, non-accountability, power to the rich and a complete disregard for the feelings of the electorate. More dangerous was the abuse of the security services structure, the hounding and persecution of some services personnel, refusal to follow laid down promotion procedure and a complete politicisation of the military. The NPP could not co-exist with institutions with forceful integrity. The security services were not spared and the judiciary took a serious beating as well.

Seeing shadows and recognising the fact that some of us were aware of the deepening crises in the barracks, a blanket ban was placed on respectable senior officers not to visit military installations including the police and military hospitals.

Fortunately Ghanaians knew better and did not hesitate to vote out the NPP when it mattered most despite the clear doctoring of figures and tinkering that took place in a desperate bid to stay in power. 

Many are quick to point fingers at my party for the being intolerant and threatening mayhem if it lost. Fortunately the general populace was privy to the fraud that was taking place and a refusal to allow that to persist meant threats of a state of emergency and a culture of fear designed to compel the electoral commission to announce the NPP as the winner. What was a better recipe for chaos than this? Why did the NPP decline to go to Tain citing security concerns when the Commander-in-Chief was the sitting NPP President? The answer was simple - the soldiers and police were not discriminating in their search of persons entering Tain. Snipers who were entering the town with murderous plans were stopped and arrested. The fraud that had taken place elsewhere including Ashanti was arrested and NPP stared defeat in the face.

The NPP took us to the abyss as far as democracy was concerned and such methods do nothing to deepen or entrench democracy. It allows for chaos, lack of confidence in the electoral process and political apathy.

The Fourth Republic: 2009…NDC Rule

To turn the tables back and bring sanity and confidence into the political process, the NDC under Mills has its work cut out and cannot plead for time in getting the job done. 

I have been critical of President Mills because the true tenets of democracy mean that irrespective of party affiliations we should not shirk our responsibility of taking ourselves to task. It is pointless to sit askance when the ordinary folk who voted us into power have strong opinions that need to be heard. 

Entrenching democracy means we need to open wider channels of communication and ensure that there is no gap between the elected and the electorate. 

As founder of the NDC and man who has a firm belief that democracy in spite of its flaws is workable I cannot look on if my party deviates from the ideals for which it was established.

I nevertheless have some strong opinions about actions that need to be taken to restore sanity into our democratic dispensation. 

We cannot make haste slowly as far as justice is concerned. The politically motivated murders that have taken place will have to be brought to justice and there must be clear manifestations of these. When the citizenry have no confidence in the security agencies or see no quest by the elected government to seek justice for families that have been orphaned then we do not deserve their mandate.

I appreciate that development programmes take time to mature and I do not expect the Mills administration to put in place infrastructure within a short spate of time. Economic exigencies and sheer time means we have to wait. Like the President says 100 days is not four years and surely the NDC will deliver because we will all play our required role to ensure that but it is important that we are not seen by the criminals who have looted this country as afraid to take action.

Yes, the law will have to take it course but investigations have to commence on all the numerous reports of fraud, corruption and theft before the thieves siphon all the funds to regional and neighbouring countries and proceed to flee prosecution.

Is it not outrageous that a huge debt of GHC 47 trillion was left by the previous administration when Ghana's combined debt from Independence to the end of my tenure was GHC 44 trillion? Ironically at the end of the NDC's first tenure there was so much infrastructural development but can the same be said of the property owning NPP democracy, which left little infrastructure to match its gargantuan debt?

I am not calling for political persecution. I am calling for the reinstitution of discipline in our national fabric. If criminals believe that the government does not have the will to pursue them they become empowered and derail the very ideals of democracy.

A country like Guinea Bissau has become a political disaster and nightmare because drug barons took over the country after the leadership refused to nip the crises in the bud. In Ghana we have over the past eight or so years paid lip service to the drug menace. Small fry had been picked up and prosecuted while the 'juicy' barons have been left to ply their trade for political expediency.

President Mills has a tall order on his hand and cannot be seen to be sweeping such serious matters under the carpet. His intentions are noble but there has to be a sense of clarity and urgency as without that we are undermining democracy.

Democracy in Ghana and on the continent can be deepened only if justice and peace are allowed to prevail. The public's judicial conscience always has to prevail. When Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years it took the public's judicial conscience for justice to eventually prevail and Mandela released. It is imperative that we always take a cue from these momentous events because they serve as a historical guide to good political responsibility.Many more issuesLadies and gentlemen, how can we ever enter into a debate of deepening democracy when fundamental basics of a democracy is non-existent?

Democracy in Africa – Quo Vadis?

I would like to conclude my address by providing some guidelines on what is required to take Ghana to a true democracy. I know that these guidelines are as relevant for Ghana as it is for many other countries in Africa.

a. Regular free, transparent and fair elections

This is surely the first basic step. If we look at the case studies of some countries in Africa it is imperative that the loopholes in the electoral processes and procedures are identified and eliminated as the highest priority. 

b. Condemnation and rejection of acts of corruption, related offenses and impunity

Slogans of “Zero Tolerance for Corruption” while the government and civil service and people in power of whatever position are the driving force behind corruption is a recipe for disaster – a recipe that has the potential to tear the very basics of democracy apart. This issue should be at the very top of any government's agenda.

c. Respect for human rights and democratic principles 

If governments do not ensure that citizens enjoy fundamental freedoms and human rights taking into account their universality, interdependence and indivisibility, the citizens will rise and rebel. The most important of these human rights is the right of the people to demand that governments as their elected representatives focus the resources of the state to create jobs, alleviate poverty, provide basic amenities for all and provide food security for its people. 

d. Separation of powers 

When justice and rule of law is under manipulation of the government, then there is no democracy. Governments in Africa and in Ghana must ensure an independent and just judiciary that has integrity. 

Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am honoured to be taking part in events marking the 10th anniversary of the installation of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II as Asantehene.

I would like to conclude by asking Africa to do one thing, and one thing only.

Please place yourself in the shoes of the masses who are poor, hungry and deprived. With this empathy as your guiding and driving force, you can't go wrong.

If the rulers of Africa and Ghana can succeed in doing this, there is hope for establishment of sound democracies. 

God bless us all.

Thank you.

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