Opposition leader says it's time for Ghana to move on

ACCRA, Ghana (Reuters) -- Ghana's opposition leader and presidential hopeful, John Kufuor, said the country had a historic chance to vote for change in Thursday's election after nearly 20 years of rule by President Jerry Rawlings.

"The people of Ghana, they know that after 20 years of Rawlings they need a change for the better," Kufuor, candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), told Reuters in an interview Wednesday, the eve of presidential and parliamentary polls.

ALSO Profiles of Ghana's presidential election candidates Snapshot of Ghana, pioneer of African independence

"This is a historic opportunity for peaceful change."

Kufuor criticized Rawlings and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Ghana's current economic problems and said the president had "behaved as if he was above the law."

"The economy is not working. Social services have lost value. Even the infrastructure, there are some token showpieces, but most of the country is still underdeveloped. And our currency, the cedi, has plunged over the past year," he said.

However, he conceded that not everything in Rawlings's legacy was negative.

"He has managed to convert his rule from a military dictatorship into a constitutional government," he said.

Rawlings, a former air force flight lieutenant who has been in power since he staged his second military coup in 1981 but restored civilian rule in 1992, has to stand down as president under a two-term constitutional limit.

Rawlings himself, who has said his party would respect the election result but has given few clues on what he might do when he stands down, was due to address the nation on state media at 8 p.m. (2000 GMT), state radio said.

His vice president, John Atta Mills, is running for the NDC. Winding up his electoral campaign Tuesday, Mills painted a very different picture from his rival Kufuor.

"President Rawlings and the NDC government have given this country peace, stability and relative prosperity," he said in a prerecorded message broadcast by state media late Tuesday.

"We want you to vote me and the NDC to build on the foundations that have been laid."

He did not refer to opposition allegations that the NDC might try to cheat.

Preparations for the poll have been marred by a dispute on identity papers required for voting.

The supreme court earlier this week ruled that thumb-printed cards would be sufficient for voting purposes, overturning a previous decision by the Electoral Commission to only allow photo identity cards to prevent possible irregularities.

The commission has said the official list of 10.7 million registered voters is bloated and some 1.5 million names should be removed, a view shared by international electoral observers.

"If you look at the latest demographic census, there is no way you get anywhere near 10.7 million voters," a European electoral observer told Reuters Tuesday.

Kufuor has been buoyed by a recent poll giving him a 10 percentage point lead over Mills, but many analysts predict no candidate will fetch more than 50 percent of the vote and a second round will be needed within two weeks of the first.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Ghana opposition grudgingly accepts court election ruling
December 5, 2000
Ghana braces for life after Rawlings
December 4, 2000

Ghana Elections 2000
Ghana government

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.