Ghana's new president, John Evans Atta Mills, commands a great deal of respect among Ghanaians, including many who are not members or supporters of his party. In office for slightly less than 4 months, barely enough time for any meaningful evaluation of his performance, he has demonstrated a capacity for restraint and wise judgment by resisting the temptation to carry out wholesale dismissals of officials from the previous administration from their civil service and other government jobs just to make room for political hacks from his own party, the NDC. We are afraid, however, that any reservoir of goodwill that the new president now enjoys among the general population may be short-lived unless he moves quickly to rein in the hardliners within his party who seem bent on revenge and who evidently cannot wait to exploit their party's accession to power for maximum personal advantage.

The president's vision of inclusiveness and reconciliation is being challenged by these hardliners in ways that could pose a serious threat to the peace and stability that Ghanaians seem to have taken for granted for nearly two decades, which has earned Ghana a reputation as a model for political tolerance in a part of the world not particularly known for such a virtue. For example, there are disturbing stories of widespread victimization of NPP supporters in NDC-dominated areas by NDC supporters. Some of these reports speak of evictions of NPP supporters from homes owned by fanatical NDC members merely for supporting the wrong political party.

Other reports even allege physical violence perpetrated against opposition party members, a situation which inevitably evokes memories of a dark chapter in Ghana's recent history, when the country found itself under the jackboots of the PNDC, the military junta led by Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings that eventually metamorphosed into the NDC political organization. People still remember with horror the role played by the so-called “commandos,” a paramilitary outfit of the PNDC made up of common street thugs who abused and terrorized the population into submission.

In addition to the hooliganism of NDC zealots, there is the question of extra-judicial seizures of vehicles and other properties belonging to some prominent members of the NPP. We cannot pretend that the NPP administration under President Kufuor was above malfeasance. It wasn't. There was rampant corruption within its ranks, disillusioning those who once had such high hopes for the NPP when it first came to power 8 years ago. After the brazen culture of corruption and impunity that marked the tenures of a succession of military regimes that preceded it, it was assumed, naively perhaps, that an NPP government would impose a tougher code of ethics upon itself. Unfortunately, it didn't, and the scandals, more than any other factors, were instrumental in the party's recent electoral fiasco.

We strongly support punishment for government officials who betray the public trust. But since Ghana is now a democracy, not some gangster-ruled banana republic, which it once was, shouldn't things be done in a manner that reflects its democratic values? If people are going to be dispossessed of their ill-gotten wealth, it should not come as a result of the arbitrary adjudication of some political party functionaries who may have axes to grind. The courts or some other legally-constituted authority should be the avenue along which to proceed. Impounding vehicles or seizing houses without going through the proper legal procedures is the sort of thing military dictators and other like-minded rulers who have no respect for civil liberties do. We can somehow understand the bitterness and frustration of all those NDC supporters of the new president who think all the spoils should go to them after their party's hard-won victory over their NPP rivals. But it is important for everyone to realize that the task of national development calls for collective national effort if it has any chance of succeeding. This means that every Ghanaian must be given the opportunity to serve the nation in any capacity his training or qualification allows him to do so without regard to party affiliation, ethnic background, or religious belief. Without such a policy, square pegs will end up in round holes, and vital government agencies will be controlled by people who don't know the first thing about what they are doing

A meritocracy is what Ghana must become, and we urge Prof. Atta Mills to remain steadfast in his rejection of any old-fashioned and regressive notions of politics and stick to his broad-minded, progressive approach to governance. All Ghanaians who really want to see improvements in their lives should rally behind him.