Counting
Ghana turns 50 this year. TV, billboard and newspaper ads abound in announcing the country's so-called "Golden Jubilee" throughout Accra. As the first Sub-Saharan country to achieve independence, Ghana gets to be the first in the region to throw its big 50th birthday bash. Before coming to Ghana and before making it one of the big country cases in my dissertation, Ghana was to me nothing more than that little country we use alongside South Korea in our motivating example in any class on development. The power point graph is striking enough to enlist the curiosity of even the most complacent undergraduate in the room. Ghana and South Korea at equal levels of per capita income in 1957. Subsequently, a steady upward sloping line for South Korea; a desperately horizontal line for Ghana. In 2002, South Korea's per capita income stood at $16,000; Ghana's, at $1,900.
So how is Ghana doing at 50?
Ghana is doing well these days to the international eye. John Kufuor, Ghana's president, was just elected Chairman of the African Union - sparing the organization the embarassment of having Sudan's President campaign for and obtain the leading position. Kofi Annan just returned to his home country after an impressive, though not entirely uncontroversial, two terms at the head of the U.N. Everywhere I turn, Ghana is heralded as a model of "good governance".
To be frank, though, I don't really get that last part. Ever since Bush made it a key condition for sharing in his Millenium Challenge Account pot, "good governance" has become everybody's favorite alliteration. Good governance, along with sustainable development, has truly become one of the international development community's favorite jingles today. How's Ghana doing at 50? Oh, quite well, you know, good governance and all. We've said it about Museveni too. And yet both Museveni and Kufuor, according to independent local newspapers, payed off their Members of Parliament to get re-elected. Museveni spent a lot of money changing the Constitution in order to enjoy a "third term" (though, really, he's been in power in good-governance-Uganda since the early 1980s).
What exactly are we counting when we say Ghana enjoys good governance? It's true, Ghana has had multi-party presidential elections since 1992. It's rather peaceful, barring those ethnic riots in the North. And, barring the indomitable law of the jungle on Accra's roads, I don't have to fear for my life or my wallet when I walk around the streets of this city. There is order here. There is a functioning state; compared to some of its notorious neighbors in the region, Ghana at 50 is a rather democratic, peaceful, political entity. But is Ghana well-governed? Is the government doing what it's supposed to do? What happens when we start counting... the number of road accident fatalities (2,173 in 2004), guinea worm cases (3,977 in 2005), malnourished children (20% of all children today), empty taxis (by our estimate, 8 out of 10 cars), covered sewers (0 in our area), chickens hanging out at and eating from the bottom of uncovered sewers (enough to become a vegetarian), burning trash piles (enough to ruin your evening run), weeks the water has been off in Accra metropolitan area (4 or 5)...?
And yet where there is reason to rant there are also reasons to hope. Two years ago, people got their drinking water out of a large generic bowl resting on top of women vendors' heads. Today they buy "Pure Water", 500 mL of sanitized water in individual plastic packets (now if only people learned not to throw the plastic packet on the ground once they're finished drinking). HIV/AIDS billboards abound, aimed at prevention and de-stigmatization. Though, with signs that say "Stop AIDS. Be faithful to your partner(s)," the message is at times a tad clumsy. And people continue to come together to provide basic rights and services where the government really fails. One of the guys who put me in touch with the Nigerian community in Nima, one of Accra's worst slums, is not only "a man who knows people," but also the Director of a primary school for children whose parents cannot afford to pay for private schooling (or, for that matter, for their children's lunch) and who seek a better education for them than what the government schools of Nima can provide.
Ghana at 50? Well, it's not a basketcase like Sudan, an inexistant state like Somalia, an ambiguous warzone like Cote d'Ivoire, or a stale dictatorship like Togo. But it's a far cry from the model of good governance I'm still seeking here.
So how is Ghana doing at 50?
Ghana is doing well these days to the international eye. John Kufuor, Ghana's president, was just elected Chairman of the African Union - sparing the organization the embarassment of having Sudan's President campaign for and obtain the leading position. Kofi Annan just returned to his home country after an impressive, though not entirely uncontroversial, two terms at the head of the U.N. Everywhere I turn, Ghana is heralded as a model of "good governance".
To be frank, though, I don't really get that last part. Ever since Bush made it a key condition for sharing in his Millenium Challenge Account pot, "good governance" has become everybody's favorite alliteration. Good governance, along with sustainable development, has truly become one of the international development community's favorite jingles today. How's Ghana doing at 50? Oh, quite well, you know, good governance and all. We've said it about Museveni too. And yet both Museveni and Kufuor, according to independent local newspapers, payed off their Members of Parliament to get re-elected. Museveni spent a lot of money changing the Constitution in order to enjoy a "third term" (though, really, he's been in power in good-governance-Uganda since the early 1980s).
What exactly are we counting when we say Ghana enjoys good governance? It's true, Ghana has had multi-party presidential elections since 1992. It's rather peaceful, barring those ethnic riots in the North. And, barring the indomitable law of the jungle on Accra's roads, I don't have to fear for my life or my wallet when I walk around the streets of this city. There is order here. There is a functioning state; compared to some of its notorious neighbors in the region, Ghana at 50 is a rather democratic, peaceful, political entity. But is Ghana well-governed? Is the government doing what it's supposed to do? What happens when we start counting... the number of road accident fatalities (2,173 in 2004), guinea worm cases (3,977 in 2005), malnourished children (20% of all children today), empty taxis (by our estimate, 8 out of 10 cars), covered sewers (0 in our area), chickens hanging out at and eating from the bottom of uncovered sewers (enough to become a vegetarian), burning trash piles (enough to ruin your evening run), weeks the water has been off in Accra metropolitan area (4 or 5)...?
And yet where there is reason to rant there are also reasons to hope. Two years ago, people got their drinking water out of a large generic bowl resting on top of women vendors' heads. Today they buy "Pure Water", 500 mL of sanitized water in individual plastic packets (now if only people learned not to throw the plastic packet on the ground once they're finished drinking). HIV/AIDS billboards abound, aimed at prevention and de-stigmatization. Though, with signs that say "Stop AIDS. Be faithful to your partner(s)," the message is at times a tad clumsy. And people continue to come together to provide basic rights and services where the government really fails. One of the guys who put me in touch with the Nigerian community in Nima, one of Accra's worst slums, is not only "a man who knows people," but also the Director of a primary school for children whose parents cannot afford to pay for private schooling (or, for that matter, for their children's lunch) and who seek a better education for them than what the government schools of Nima can provide.
Ghana at 50? Well, it's not a basketcase like Sudan, an inexistant state like Somalia, an ambiguous warzone like Cote d'Ivoire, or a stale dictatorship like Togo. But it's a far cry from the model of good governance I'm still seeking here.
posted by cla at 6:46 AM
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