John Mahama’s Dominant Minority Rule, Bodes Ill For Ghana

Dominant minority rule is the new norm in Ghana. This has been confirmed not just by the recent election but also by subsequent appointments by the president, John Mahama, for whom regionalism and balance in public appointments has no meaning.

So what is dominant minority rule? This is a system in which a group (defined by national, ethnic or religious lines) has overwhelming political or economic dominance in a country or region despite representing a small fraction of the overall population (i.e. demographic minority).

Despite the proliferation of democracy in the last decade, the world is replete with dominant minority rule. In Syria, Alawite Muslims rule despite being the minority. The same is true of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain where minority Sunni rulers hold sway.

In Africa, Tutsi rule in Rwanda and Burundi, Americo-Liberian domination in Liberia and Kabiye control in Togo are all examples of small demographic groups wielding disproportionate political power.

In Ghana, dominant minority rule is manifest in the disproportionate amount of power that ethnic and regional groupings from the Northern and Volta Regions hold relative to their population and contribution to national wealth generation.

The seeds of dominant minority rule in Ghana were planted during the Rawlings era when prominent Akan politicians and businessmen and women (especially Ashantis, Kwahus and Akyems) were murdered, humiliated and deprived of their wealth.

In their stead, people from the Volta Region in particular, were promoted to places of power and authority. Through fair and foul means they were given control over educational institutions, the army, police and the public service.

Multi-partyism, especially the coming into power of the NPP may have slowed this trend but could not stop it. Today, Voltarians and people from the North are back with a vengeance.

Not only are they dominating political discourse and power in this country but are also laying the ground work for sustained hegemony. Those who doubt this assertion should just take a look at the composition of Mahama's government, where 90% of presidential staffers, advisors and ministerial appointees are from these ethnic and geographical groupings.

For Mahama, keeping power and authority in the family is not new. It is a continuation of a trend that he began as Vice President, where all his staffers were either Gonja or of Northern extraction.

During the presidential campaign Mahama asked his people to vote for one of their own because they had been Vice Presidents for far too long. After making this statement, those Akans who voted for Mahama with the expectation that he will have a change of heart and realize that Ghana belongs to all, may be cursing their stars.

As he packs his administration with his people and those from the Volta Region, people from the demographic majority, especially Ashantis, Akims, Kwahus and Akwapims have been sidelined. In today's Ghana, it is a political liability to be an Ashanti or an Akyem. You cannot be Akan and lead a political party.

You cannot ask Akans to vote for you without being branded tribalistic. Yet Mahama was able to do it and go scot-free. If you have an Akan name, you cannot even register to vote in some polling stations in Ghana, and yet we call ours a democracy.

During Kufour's reign, it was not uncommon to hear the opposition talk about an “Ashanti Project” being implemented by his government. Even Professor Mills, who should have known better, couldn't help but jump on the so-called “Ashanti Project” bandwagon. But who could blame him? It was so great a political opportunity that he couldn't let it pass.

Once in power, Professor Mills ensured that his fictional great “Ashanti Project” would be halted. Consequently, infrastructure projects in the Ashanti Region were abandoned. School feeding schemes were destroyed by footsoldiers.

Catch and Carry was introduced into the Region's hospital system under the guise of a NHIS pilot project. At the same time, NDC henchmen and apparatchicks like Kobby Acheampong and Kwesi were unleashed to denigrate and insult Ashantis, including the Asantehene at every given opportunity.

Professor Mills may be gone but his vision of pushing other Akans, especially Ashantis into political and socio-economic oblivion continues. This time perpetrated by his mentee, John Mahama, who is ensuring that his people also have their turn.

Gradually, the dominant minority is taking over the reigns of government and using the resources it has inherited to perpetuate itself in power. Loyalty and legitimacy are being bought with T-Shirts, kerosene and salt. Cuban medical scholarships are being doled to people of Northern and Volta origins as if they are the only needy or brilliant people in the country. Informed political debate is being truncated with lies, insults and taunts.

Using their political clout, the dominant minority are impoverishing the demographic majority by either denying them access to the basics of life, education and infrastructure or turning a blind eye to the pillaging of their resources and the destruction of their environment for resource rent seekers.

For fear of being branded tribalistic, the demographic majority have kept quiet even as their wealth is being taken from them. They have been so emasculated that when a Deputy Minister, Kobby Acheampong called them “kookooase nkurasefoo” and equated living in Kumasi with being “uncivilized” nobody, not even the President lifted a finger.

While talk of poverty always focuses on the North, there are areas in Ashanti, Eastern, Central and Western Regions that are equally, if not, more destitute. Under the guise of a pilot capitation project, the NHIS in Ashanti has been destroyed.

Cash and Carry is the order of the day while residents of other parts of the country are enjoying cheaper access to health care. New public hospitals and universities are sprouting everywhere but not in Ashanti or most other Akan areas.

If history is anything to go by then one can say without doubt that dominant minority rule does not bode well for Ghana. Take the case of Syria, Libya, Iraq, South Africa, Rwanda, Burundi and Liberia. The false sense of peace that prevailed in those countries was shattered when the dominated majority could not take it anymore. Ghana needs to avoid this.

So what should be done?
First, we should practice true democracy - not the one that is currently being practised in Ghana, which is a sham characterized by vote buying, corruption, and little political accountability. Second, the nation's resources should be distributed equitably (not equally since some regions contribute more than others) without any favoritism. This means, access to jobs, infrastructure and tertiary institutions should be representative.

The National Scholarship Secretariat should be accessible to all. Those whose regions produce the bulk of the nation's resources should be given a greater share of national wealth. Oil revenue should be used to develop the Western Region. Gold should benefit the Ashanti Region, Central, Brong and Western Regions.

Cocoa scholarships should go to children of cocoa farmers and not people with connections. The cocoa farmer should not be overtaxed in order to provide free education to people in the North. In a true democracy this should be easy but not in Ghana, where ethnicity and the resultant access to political power is the only way to gain personal wealth and a share of the national cake.

This brings me to my third suggestion, which is for the government to ensure regional balance in political, military and government appointments. Unfortunately, the recent appointments by the President, where more than 90% of appointees are of Northern or Volta origin, make a mockery of this concept. But this is not surprising.

The current government gets the bulk of its support from impoverished regions, which stand to lose if resources are shared according to regional contribution. Another approach is to give regional governments more power and control over their resources. Currently, the President and the central government have too much power.

They appoint board members, district chief executives, public servants, hospital administrators, etc. They even decide who gets a scholarship application form to fill. This over concentration of power and resources in the central government is hampering overall development and encouraging clientelism.

Moving towards a truly decentralized form of governance or even some form of confederation will address the imbalance in power and wealth distribution.

For the dominated majority, retreat or apathy to elections is not an option as it will spell their doom. Instead of recoiling, these groups should ensure that the things they care about are front and centre of political campaigns. Instead of hiding their ethnic identity they should be proud of who they are. Ashantis in particular should rise up. They should ask for their fair share of the national cake.

They should ask for stronger regional governments. This is because with such high levels of illiteracy, poverty, unemployment and infrastructure decay in Ashanti, their future in Ghana is at risk.

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