|
The Rawlings Years
In 1979, Flight Lt. J. J. Rawlings overthrew the government and purged the country of opposition, then turned the government over to an elected president, Dr. Hilla Limann. The international community disapproved of Rawlings's tactics, and Nigeria cut Ghana's crude oil supply. Poor economic conditions, restrictions on the press, and allegations of corruption led to popular discontent.
Rawlings seized power again in 1981 and tightened his political control throughout the 1980s. He enlisted economic help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and in the late 1980s the economy began to show significant growth. In 1992 the government promulgated a new constitution and lifted the ban on opposition parties. Later that year, Rawlings easily won a disputed presidential election. In 1994 several thousand people were killed and many more displaced in ethnic fighting in northern Ghana. In the 1996 elections, which were generally termed fair, Rawlings was returned to power. Ghana's economic recovery continued into the late 1990s. Under the constitution, Rawlings could not run for reelection in 2000. In the December elections, the candidate of the opposition New Patriotic party, John Agyekum Kufuor, was elected president; the party also won a near majority in the parliament. The governing National Democratic Congress was hurt by the declining economy.
|
