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01.10.2000 General News

Coup leader Rawlings to hand over power in Ghana

01.10.2000 LISTEN
By CNN

From Charlayne Hunter-Gault CNN Johannesburg Bureau Chief

ACCRA, Ghana (CNN) -- An event rare in the history of Africa is about to occur: A coup leader is handing over power democratically.

Jerry Rawlings, who has ruled Ghana since he came to power in a coup 18 years ago, will step down after democratic elections in early December.

Ghana has just held its first presidential debate, featuring six of the seven hopefuls vying to succeed Rawlings, who went from coup leader to twice democratically elected president.

Vice president won't debate The debate generated not only excitement but an intense national discussion, provoked by the refusal of Rawlings' vice president to participate.

Crowds cheer at a presidential debate which sparked an intense national discussion

The ruling party issued a statement charging "unnecessary involvement and interference of foreign individuals or organizations in the nation's electioneering process."

The debate was sponsored by the U.S.-based Freedom Forum in cooperation with the state-owned Ghana Broadcasting Company and the Ghana Association of Journalists.

In the days leading up to the debate, newspapers and the airwaves were full of news about it and the vice president's refusal to take part.

Some argued that such a debate would not have been possible before Rawlings restored and entrenched democracy in the country. But others saw the vice president's refusal to participate as a sign of the complacency of a government too long in power.

An African jewel Ghana -- the first nation on the continent to have gained independence from colonial rule -- is often called "The Jewel in Africa's Crown."

Despite the stability Rawlings achieved in Ghana, one third of the population still live in extreme poverty

The first stop on United States President Clinton's 1998 tour of Africa, the country is one of the closest allies of the U.S. in the region and an island of stability in a continent often in chaos.

But Ghana was not always like that. In 1979, Rawlings the coup leader announced, "The constitution is suspended, all parties are proscribed. It is illegal for any person or persons to belong to or operate under any party."

Two coups and 21 years later, things are different.

Economy hit hard Almost no one disputes the fact that Ghanaians have enjoyed unprecedented stability and economic renewal under President Rawlings. Ghanaians are now living longer by some four years and adult literacy stands at 75 percent, up from 31 percent in 1970.

But one-third of the country's population still live in extreme poverty and, within the past few months, Ghana's economy has been hit hard by the global collapse in the prices of cocoa, gold and timber, its three main exports.

In recent days the country has even run out of gas, which some see as an appropriate metaphor for the Rawlings government and maybe even democracy itself.

Some Ghanaians mistrust the election process -- "because when they come to power they don't even do what they told us, so we have decided to keep our votes in the house" -- others are full of praise -- "we get lights, our villages get water, he has done everything that he could do."

And still the specter of coups haunts those investing heavily in the democratic process. As one presidential hopeful said during the debate, "We won't go back."

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