...Rawlings says transition shows nation's progress
The former fighter pilot came to power in a bloody coup and for years presided over a brutal dictatorship.
Last week, however, President Jerry Rawlings handed over power to a longtime rival. The former dictator - years ago reconstructed as an elected leader - watched as the presidential dreams of his chosen successor were wiped away in a loss at the polls.
But if Rawlings wasn't happy with the outcome, the vote was a rare victory for democracy in West Africa, where transfers of power more often take place through coups or civil wars than through the ballot box.
The elections last month and Sunday's inauguration of a new president were welcomed around the world, both as a sign that civilian rule had taken firm hold in Ghana and as a sign of a growing African resolve to bring power closer to the people.
"With these elections, Ghana has demonstrated that democracy and its institutions continue to take root in Africa," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a Ghana native, said after John Atta Mills, Rawlings' vice president, conceded defeat.
There are other signs that democracy may be gaining ground in the region. A similar handover of power took place in Senegal last year, after a party that had held sway for 40 years lost an election to a longtime rival. Civilian leaders also control such coup-prone countries as Nigeria and Niger.
But in West Africa, a step forward in one country is often matched by a step back elsewhere.
In neighboring Ivory Coast, a country once renowned for its stability and prosperity, a civilian administration was overthrown in a coup in December 1999. On Monday, Ivory Coast's restored civilian government put down another coup attempt.
Nigeria, has seen thousands killed in ethnic and religious violence since President Olusegun Obasanjo's election in 1998 ended 15 years of military rule.
Many observers of Africa see a success like the Ghanaian elections as a positive sign - but not necessarily an indication of sweeping democratic change.
"We have seen recently some handovers of power from parties and leaders that have been there for a long time, but I think it is far too early to talk about a trend," said Marina Ottaway, a senior associate of the African Policy Initiative for the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment.
Ghana, however, has come a long way in the past two decades.
The country, which has experienced five military regimes since independence from Britain in 1957, evolved under Rawlings into a multiparty nation with a flourishing independent press.
Rawlings took power in a 1979 coup, handing over power briefly to a civilian leader, before a second coup two years later.
Although the early years of his regime were marked by executions and repression, he embraced democratic and free-market ideals in the 1990s, becoming a favorite of Western donors.
With his flamboyant personality, passionate speeches and trademark dark sunglasses, he came to embody the government he headed for almost 20 years. He won multiparty elections in 1992 and 1996 but was barred by the constitution he approved from seeking another four-year term.
A sharp decline in Ghana's once-thriving economy hurt his popularity. The country was hit in recent years by plummeting international prices for its main exports, cocoa and gold, and increases in the price of imported oil.
The economic woes are a large part of what helped John Kufuor defeat Mills in a Dec. 28 election runoff.
Rawlings had been a staunch campaigner for his chosen successor, and the vote was marred by scattered clashes. But Rawlings and Mills congratulated Kufuor and promised to cooperate with the new government.
"Ghana has registered itself as one of the key players in bringing democracy to the continent," said Kofi Agyemalg, a social worker who attended Kufuor's inauguration. "It is a great moment for Africa. ... We are no longer the land of people regarded as politically immature."
Yet in his final address as president, at a military parade in his honor, Rawlings said he had misgivings about multiparty democracy, noting "the potential waste of time, resources, energy and social harmony which can arise from partisan antagonism."
Rawlings, who was notably absent during Kufuor's inauguration speech, said the election of an opposition leader is testimony to the solid democratic foundations that have been built in Ghana.
"We leave it to history to offer the final judgment as to how much we have done," he said.
