My first Blog Camp and  I thoroughly enjoyed the networking experience. Besides meeting old friends, I finally met faces & characters behind the blogs and tweets I follow fervently. The event was informative and one of the better attended ones that has been organized by my peers, since I've been in the country. The Kofi Annan ICT center was packed to capacity with spill-over in the hall-ways from late morning through the Ghana Social Media Awards segment of the night.

US Ambassador to Ghana whisked through and used the event out-door the embassy's new tumblr account. I got to meet Google Ghana's Estelle Akrofi-Sowah, Be Bold's Christal Jean (now Christal Beeko) and Mutombo Da Poet for the first time.

BlogCamp13 Attendees

Estelle, Me, Kajsa & Ali

Before today, I'd given myself, this blog and Reporting Ghana's Presidency a self imposed hiatus on reporting on politics.

I love politics and as a political scientist (my 1st/college degree certifies my cred), it was one of the most difficult things to do but Ghana's political climate called for cooler heads than inadvertent fanning of disgruntled political flames.

During the elections with the Ghana Decides team, we were able to report on the elections from polling stations through to collating offices and the party headquarters of the respective parties. After the electoral commissioner announced the NDC as the winner, the divide in the country became very very apparent. Besides isolated incidents of violence on the streets of Accra by the opposing NPP supporters, the general sentiment among peace-seekers was for us not to incite the already disgruntled NPP. I hate to admit it, but most Ghanaians' Christmas celebrations were tampered down because of the uncertainty caused by the NPP and other political parties refusing to concede and accept the electoral commissions results. The matter has been sent to Ghana's Supreme court.

But the swearing-in of the president-elect H.E. John Mahama was still an august occasion. It was colorful, patriotic and the pride tens of thousands of Northerners, a region John Mahama is from, showed by driving 12+ hours to attend the occasion made it a joy to document on camera. The Ghana Decides coordinator trashed out on epic proportions (slang for did a terrible job at coordinating) and I ended up by myself most of the day and not having the assistance/feeling comfortable to record video. Then again, a picture shares 1000 words, so enjoy:

Foreign observers at the swearing-in ceremony

A packed Independence Square, Accra

Supporters of the the NDC & President-elect Mahama

Venue for the swearing-in: Independence Square, Accra

Supporters and fans of NDC

Abedi Pele, Former Football and FIFA Ambassador

Forward in Unity, One Nation with Love

The culmination of the December elections has left supporters of the NPP disgruntled and crying voter fraud while the ruling party, and declared winner of the 2012 election, were in a celebratory mood throughout Sunday night.

Exclusive video footage at the New Patriotic Party national headquarters as well as the National Democratic Congress national headquarters in Accra hours before and during the Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Afari-Gyan's announcement as to the winner of the presidential elections. I was a member of the Ghana Decides team. Videography by Emmanuel A. Gamor

NDC supporter marching on Oxford Street, Osu, Accra.

Emmanuel A. Gamor for Ghana Decides

Early Morning Voting at Ayawaso West Wougon constituency, Dzorwulu Open Space

At 8:15am the Dzorwulu Open Space voting station, number 138, had about 75 people in line voters waiting even as voters  casting their ballot moved at a decent clip. After media press accreditation were checked a polling agent at the station, Derrick Asiedu, reported that 91 voters with 24 female voters had successful exercised their franchise. Ayakparo Selassie Famous, a first time voter from the Volta region who currently resides at Ayawaso West Wougon constituency was excited to vote. Selassie Famous mentioned education as one of the main reason why he is excited to vote and had minimal complaints about his experience at this voting station.

Nassah Inussa a third time voter who had been in line since 4:00am, arrived to vote a few hours before the polling agents showed up to start the process. He wanted to make sure that he could get a chance to vote early and besides the wait, he did not have any major complaints at the polling station. In his opinion, today's election was as peaceful as previous ones and the though he expressed skepticism in the "US sent biometric equipment", he shared that he was fine with the verification process as long as it assured all voters that the elections were free and fair.

Voting at Polling Station #138 Ayawaso West Wougon Constituency

Peter Danu, a polling agent for New Patriotic Party (NPP)  reported that the elections at Ayawasu West Wougon constituency had been going smoothly thus far. Peter hopes the patience and comportment voters in line had exercised all morning will continue into the hot afternoon and evening. There were two security agents, as well as a representative for the National Democracy Congress (NDC) were present and on active duty.

Emmanuel A. Gamor for Ghana Decides

After all the festivities during the national rallies, hosted by the National Democratic Congress & New Patriotic Party yesterday, today seemingly started with much less fanfare on the streets of Accra. Shortly after mid-day the pouring rain, as if in attempt to wash away the posters and banners, left-over vuvuzela's and print-outs in town, cleansed the capital of all political campaigning paraphenelia on the final day before elections.

Sentiments about the elections have been heated, debates and national officials of either party are both guilty of raising the rhetoric to alarming levels of accusations and counter-accusations.
 "We are the peaceful party, watch out, the others are the more violent."
"We do not control the military or the police force, they do, but like the youth in Tunisia, we have the mandate of the people and the mandate of the people is the mandate of God."

If you spent time in either party's camp, ambushed by red blue and white (NPP), loud vuvuzela buzzes you would come out reciting the free high school education platform and accolades of Nana Akufo Addo; if you were overwhelmed by the white and green, mouth contorting slogan of "edey be kɛkɛ" you would be an advocate for the "better Ghana" incumbent initiative. Amidst the rhetoric what was more impressive was symbol of unity friends of both parties showed when as they walked side by side, hand in hand late night after the political rallies. Taxi drivers were cautious to share their political inclinations, most from either party hinted that the race may be too close to declare early victory for either party and progressive, foreign educated Ghanaian's lamented about the absence of a strong political campaign machine to support other choices besides John Mahama's NDC and Nana Addo's NPP; the likes PPPs Nduom and CPP's Sakara.

Napthaline Djokoto at East Legon, Accra photo credit: emmanuel a. gamor

The "Our Vote, Our Voice" campaign by Ghana Decides seeks to engage young people in the electoral process, by providing pledge cards and an online link to vote, the Ghana Decides team seeks to remind young voters the importance of their contribution during the 2012 elections. Most young people were registered to vote, when pressed on whether they would vote on Friday, however, some gave excuses that where they were registered was inconveniently far from where they currently work or reside in Accra and weren't as pressed to show up at the polling station come December 7th.

A good section of the people also expressed a sense of being fed-up with the political rhetoric the incessant name-calling, the intimidation of potential violence due to the accusations of the dominant parties of what the other might do. Yes the democratic process is important to most people, and you can engage in a lively debate by mentioning colors, slogans, political parties names or prominent politicians. You will very likely find an ardent fan or vocal opposition almost anywhere on the streets of Accra.
More importantly though, Ghanaians enjoy good music, we enjoy concerts both religious and non-religous and more importantly, Ghanaians have embraced peace.

May the best man win.

Emmanuel A. Gamor for Ghana Decides

Three days to election day and everyone is gearing up for one of the most hotly contested elections in Ghana's history. Since 1992, there has perhaps not been as much media fervor and anticipation for a presidential election as this. The reported 32 radio stations based in Accra alone, and dozens of television station allow more avenues for discourse for everyone to be engaged in the political debate. The nationally televised and online broadcast presidential and vice-presidential debates notwithstanding, there are still a number of  young people I met at the Accra mall who were not intending to vote come Friday, December 7th 2012.

video:

Some of the young people I spoke with were skeptical about voting. A gentleman who is an employee at one of the businesses at the mall, and wants to remain anonymous, lamented that he could not return to his place of registration in the Volta region and come back in time for work. I pressed him further and asked if his employees gave the impression that his job would be threatened because of his absence and he admitted to the contrary, he did not think it was worth the hassle and would consider voting if it was more convenient for him to do so.

photo credit: emmanuel a. gamor

Jeffrey Tetteh Obese, the Operations Manager at Barcelos fast food eatery at the mall, was pleased to pledge to vote. He shared that the management at the mall sent letters to all shop renters and employers that the mall will not be opened before noon on Friday to allow employees and workers to exercise their right to vote. Whether the notice about the mall's late opening was trickled down to all employees is another matter.

Jeffery Tetteh Obese at the Accra Mall photo credit: emmanuel a. gamor

A young lady with whom I spoke with at the MTN service center, hinted that though she lives in Accra and her registration/voting station is at Legon, she was not sure she would vote on Friday. She admitted she was a bit intimidated by the rhetoric between the NDC & NPP with a seemingly close election race may lead to violence. When pressed on what would make her more politically engaged and vote on Friday, she joked that a private chauffeur to the voting station without the wait in line would be best.

photo credit: emmanuel a. gamor

photo credit: emmanuel a. gamor

After the Arab Spring uprisings we are yet to see if the large demographic of young people in sub-Saharan Africa will affect or influence the presidential elections. The two dominant political parties have made a showing of employing young people amongst their ranks, and the NPP's main campaign promise revolves around serving young people with free Senior Secondary School education. Ghana Decides' Our Vote Our Voice campaign seeks to engage all young people, regardless of their political affiliations to go out and vote. Voting is a democratic right that should not be taken lightly as the opportunity usually comes once every four years with considerable implications to our collective well-being in the very near future.

Emmanuel A. Gamor for Ghana Decides

Driving through the streets of Accra, it is obvious the election fervor is at its peak. With less than two weeks to go, the two dominant political party, NDC & NPP, are pulling all the stops to win on December 7th. The radio in the car is tuned to 103.5 FM Agoo FM….a station that primarily features political talk shows and Rush Limbaugh comes to mind. Without being as abrasive or polarizing Agoo FM, does give you a heavy dose of opinionated politics. Hours after listening to the station, if you aren't an ardent fan of Mahama or Akuffo Addo (depending on which party's segment) you'll, at the bare minimum, find yourself reciting their credentials from hearing it on repeat. Like that nursery rhyme you're surprised to find you know the words to from hearing your niece or nephew recite over and again…NPP: "Free Senior High School (SHS)", NDC: "Working for You", "Free SHS", "Working for You", "Free SHS", "Working for You"…as if, like the political campaign suggests, the two should be mutually exclusive.

The billboards, posters and grass roots political movements are perhaps the more interesting indicators who the fore-runners in the elections are. The oft used phrase: to get to the bottom of something, follow the money, can be applied in this situation as well.

Accra Tema Motorway photo credit: emmanuel gamor

 Which party has the financial capacity to actually garner enough votes for the presidential elections? And which party is shrewdly financing their respective campaigns to translate to wins? These are questions I will be seeking answers to this week. From a layman's perspective, the battle is between the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party.

Vuvuzelas have been employed by the NPP. photo credit: emmanuel gamor

 The allegiances are most pronounced in locales with strong allegiances to either party but across the streets of Accra there is a 5 minute reminder, car poster, radio advert, painted face in party colors, to vote for Nana Akuffo Addo's "Free SHS" or John Mahama's "Working For You" mantras. Regardless of what the nationally televised and online streaming presidential debates would have you believe, it is truly a competition between two dominant political parties.

Allegiance to political parties are not just ethnic, in college I explored the correlation to ethnic parties during the 2004 elections(exclusive Ewe support for the NDC & unwavering Ashanti support for the NPP) as a research project, though these allegiances loosely hold true there is so much that more that determines political affiliation in 2012 Ghana. Businessmen and women, especially businesswomen who have expert proficiency in navigating the informal Ghanaian economy (the kiosks in front of registered retail stores, the hand off and exchange of currency that is not formally as part of the country's GDP) are the ones who make politics in Ghana interesting. Depending on their past business experience during a particular party's tenure their support is amplified by their business forecasts for future success. Voting thus becomes one of the most important business investment for the next four years. The more conniving investors find ways to benefit regardless of who is in power and show blatant support for one party and encourage a close family member/business partner to showcase blatant support for the other. Flip-flopping between political party isn't tolerated however, and you would rather lose during a 4/8 year cycle and benefit when your party comes to power than to be perceived as an obvious opportunist. As if most Ghanaians aren't that: polite opportunists with broad welcoming smiles.

2012 Presidential Candidates photo credit: Electoral Commission Ghana

 My family is strategically well placed. On my Ewe father's side, the family ties to the NDC government have been beneficial as aunts and cousins have moving anecdotes of how they have personally benefited from the government "working for you". One being married to a past minister of agriculture makes the case pretty obvious. On my Fanti mother's side, the allegiance has always been to the NPP government with my first voting experience during the 1998 elections giving "the elephant" my approval. I was secretly snuck into the voting booth and told my mom to pick the elephant "Kukurudu, Eshi! Rado Rado!" It also helped that my uncle received a diplomatic appointment as an ambassador when NPP was in power. And where does that leave me? As a Political Scientist turned Journalist I'm a moderate, voting on issues rather than having a blanket support for either party. I enjoyed vetting Obama's Democrats and Romney's Republicans and exploring the issues to push each side to better serve me/us/the world. In Accra it isn't just about the colors, chants, ethnic affiliations, or whom either one of my parents support, but who best serves my interests this election cycle. After all I'm Ghanaian, an opportunist with a broad welcome smile.

 Mosquito Claps: As a kid I used to try to kill mosquitoes by capturing them between my palms with a loud clap. This practice is not uncommon in tropical regions and especially in Ghana. The hashtag #mosquitoclaps however indicates a new post about my thoughts, experiences and observations in Accra on this blog.