Rawlings denies Nigerian funding

Peace FM reports that a spokesman for Jerry Rawlings has denied media reports that the former Ghanaian president helped channel $3.5 million into his National Democratic Congress' 2008 electoral campaign. The $3.5 million allegedly came from the governor of Nigeria's River State, who is under investigation by a Nigerian anti-corruption commission.

Ghanaian law prohibits political parties from receiving money from foreign citizens or institutions.

NDC candidate John Atta Mills, once Rawlings' vice-president, was narrowly elected president in the campaign.

Ghana

Congratulations to the Republic of Ghana for holding yet another free and fair election with minimal controversy, with no outside interference and marked by admirable conduct from the major candidates.

Thank goodness Ghana took its lessons in electoral democracy from Botswana and South Africa rather than Florida or Minnesota.

Vigilantism in Ghana

With all the global and African media attention on the man-made catastrophe in Zimbabwe, a lot of other stories are flying under the radar. Take a couple of troubling stories coming out of Ghana, a country generally seen as one of the most stable in West Africa.

The IRIN reported on an ethnic conflict in the north which might threaten national elections scheduled for later this year. Some 17 people have been killed in clashes between the Mamprusi and Kusasi. President John Kufuor said local officials in the town of Bawku should be 'ashamed' of what happened there.

The UN news agency also on a troubling security vacuum in the capital Accra that's been filled by militia-like vigilante groups.

The scary part is that these vigilante groups are actually welcomed by locals, who are so mistrustful of and disillusioned by the police and court system.

One elderly Accra resident explained, "I am grateful for their presence. They put the fear of God into all the criminals in the area."

Not surprisingly though, such instant mob justice often goes awry.

The beating to death of the administrator of the government hospital in the Bono Ahafo Region of Ghana by a group of young men last year who mistook him for a serial killer is one of the most notorious examples of mob law gone wrong.

Is Gambia's strongman killing Ghanaians?

That's what The Accra Mail wonders. According to the paper, civil society organizations in Ghana have urged their country's president to cut ties with The Gambia.

This is in relation to the killing of 44 Ghanaians and other nationals in Gambia and other alleged serious human rights violations and media repression said to be orchestrated by President Jammeh of The Gambia.

The governments of Nigeria, Senegal and Togo, which also had their citizens killed, have been urged to also cut ties with The Gambia.

The group heard "first-hand accounts of gruesome human rights violations by the Gambian authorities, including the murder of 50 nationals of Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo".