This comment paper analyses the results of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA), adopted in September 2008 in the capital of Ghana, from a gender perspective. It reviews the mobilisation process of women’s rights organisations in the lead up to Accra, going on to analyse the results obtained, and mentioning some of the challenges and opportunities which lie ahead in the lead up to the IV High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness which will take place in 2011.

High on the agenda for developing countries at the Accra High Level Forum on aid effectiveness was a commitment to use developing country systems (alignment) and to regulate division of labour (harmonisation). Regarding alignment donor governments agreed to channel at least 50% of aid through developing country systems. As for ‘donor harmonisation’, no specifics were given except for a call for donors to ‘harmonise their assistance proactively’.

Ghanaians recently went to the polls to elect a new President to succeed outgoing president Kufuor. This was the second time under the country’s nascent democracy, that one political party was handing over to another without violent dispute. Ghana can be said to have redeemed Africa’s electoral image after the carnage the world witnessed during the Kenyan and Zimbabwean elections.

The new government of Ghana has been warned to be mindful of the World Bank and other international donors' eulogies. Anthony Akoto-Osei, former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, urged the Atta-Mills government to remain focused on its agenda. The former minister said the government should not rely exclusively on advises from global financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, saying they throw around loans that may tie down the country in circles of debts.

Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills on Thursday released the initial list of the names of his cabinet and gave an indication that he would fulfil his pledge of 40 per cent of them being women. The list, which included a blend of old and new faces, has been forwarded to parliament for vetting.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration approved lavish benefits for outgoing President John Kufuor, parliament heard on Monday, a move critics said could burden the country's struggling economy. The package, approved on the previous parliament's final day, gives each former president two furnished houses, six chauffeur-driven cars, a tax-free payment linked to time served in office, as well as money for entertainment and foreign travel.

The outgoing President of Ghana, John Kufuor, commuted all death sentences in the country. Amnesty International welcomed the action and urged the new President of Ghana, John Atta Mills, to seize the moment and take immediate steps to abolish the death penalty in law.

Ghana swore in opposition leader John Atta Mills as president on Wednesday in a democratic transfer of power that has won plaudits from Africa and the world. President John Kufuor stepped down after serving the maximum two four-year terms in office in the West African state. His party's chosen successor lost a cliffhanger presidential election run-off to Mills last week by less than 0.5 percent.

With Ghana witnessing elections broadly heralded as free and fair, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem considers the country’s enduring two-party political system. Arguing that John Kufuor’s outgoing administration simply owed its electoral success to a fortuitous set of circumstances, the author delves into the country’s post-colonial history and considers the persistence of the Danquah-Busia/Nkrumahist divide in contemporary politics.

Ghana's presidential election must be decided in a second-round vote, the electoral commission has announced. Governing party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo won 49.13% of the vote, against 47.92% for his rival, John Atta Mills, the commission said. But neither reached the 50% threshold needed for an outright win and a run-off will be held on 28 December.

Following an invitation extended by the Electoral Commission of Ghana, EISA is deploying a mission to observe the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Ghana, scheduled for Sunday 7 December 2008. The Mission is led by Mr Denis Kadima, EISA Executive Director. It consists of 15 members drawn from civil society organisations (CSOs) from 13 African countries, namely Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Zambia.

We, women from women’s rights organisations and networks gathered in Doha before the official Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) to review the Monterrey Consensus, have been working to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are at the centre of the FfD process.

Ten people have been confirmed dead and two are hospitalised following an outbreak of meningitis in north-central Ghana. The disease broke out on 25 October in Yaw Bronya farming community in the Ashanti Region, 250km north of the capital Accra. Local authorities have closed down schools and banned all public gatherings. “We are treating this as an epidemic,” the head of the Ashanti regional health directorate, Mohammed Bin Ibrahim, told IRIN.

Nana Konadu Agyeman, the hawkish wife of ex-President Jerry Rawlings, has written to the diplomatic community and some international organizations that the impending December 7 general elections will descend into civil war (Daily Guide, 28 October, 2008).

Ghana's election campaign could be tarnished by money from West African drug trafficking, an official has said. Kwesi Aning, head of research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, said the "very fabric" of Ghanaian society was under threat. His comments came as the UN warned in a report that West Africa risks becoming an epicentre for drug trafficking from South America to Europe.

As in US, the wives of Ghanaian presidential candidates are front-and-centre in the on-going electoral campaigns for the December 7 general elections.They are giving interviews, speeches and appearing on newspaper covers, television and websites. This is in contrast to Canada where wives of political leaders in the just ended general elections rarely appeared at the campaign trails.

Ghana's electoral commission has announced special arrangements so Muslim pilgrims going to Mecca for the Hajj can vote in polls on 7 December. The annual religious journey in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to take place between 30 November and 20 December.

Mawusi Awity and her husband were willing to jeopardize his military career for her dream of running for parliament in Ghana but there was another price to pay that she could not afford. "The excessive use of money to win the minds and hearts of the voters is making it difficult for women to get into the forefront of politics," Awity told IPS.

October 08, 2008
PRESS STATEMENT: CLEANING THE VOTERS’ REGISTER FOR PEACEFUL AND CREDIBLE ELECTIONS IN DECEMBER2008

We, the members of the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) a coalition of Civil Society organizations committed to the conduct of a free, fair, peaceful and transparent election in Ghana on December 7, 2008.

Having met at Alisa Hotel, North Ridge, Accra on Thursday, 2 October 2008, to inaugurate our coalition and take stock of the limited registration exercise of July- August 2008, realized that, the challenges that face our country constitute a grave threat to the holding of credible elections in 2008 and beyond.
Have concluded that;

The present voters register should be cleaned to restore the confidence of the voting public in it and create the appropriate environment for free, fair and peaceful elections; and
CSOs and other citizens groups and public-spirited Ghanaians from all walks of life should be mobilized to participate more effectively in the election process in our country.

The Forum accordingly wishes to affirm its commitment, to ensuring credible and peaceful elections by;

i. Appealing to political parties, traditional authorities, churches and all religious bodies to appeal to their members to volunteer information to the EC on all cases of underage, alien, double or multiple registration and deceased persons whose names remain in the register;

ii. Educating the voting public to participate fully in the exhibition of the voters register and thereby help clean it up through the removal of illegal names;

iii. Giving maximum publicity to the exhibition of the voters register to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the exercise;

iv. Mounting an observation of the exhibition” of the voters register and make recommendation on further appropriate measures to be taken to guarantee the integrity and credibility of the register;

v. Undertaking a broad advocacy campaign to ensure free, fair, transparent and peaceful election on December 7, 2008;

vi. Disseminating peace messages throughout the length and breadth of Ghana to ensure peace and national unity before, during and after election 2008;

vii. Asking the security agencies to firmly and impartially perform their duties before, during and after the election;

viii. Advising all political leaders and election candidates to bring their influence to bear on their political support base to keep the peace and ensure a successful election in December 2008; and

ix. Appealing to all Ghanaians in all they do to put Ghana first, political power second.

* For more information, please contact the Civic Forum Initiative Host Secretariat at: Tel.021-506466/518017; Fax: 021-518018 or by E-mail; [email][email protected]

The influence of the World Bank was felt in Accra when developing countries and donors met at a resplendent conference centre for the recent High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. The Bank, together with the OECD and the Ghanaian government, were the joint organisers of this event that hosted some 1,200 participants including 80 civil society representatives