X Close

Encyclopaedia of Political Ecology

Home

Menu

Environmental Democracy? A case-study from Ghana

By ucfuwu2, on 10 June 2014

Daniel Arubayi

.

Key words: sustainable development, democracy, power, colonialism, environmental hazards, urban poor.

.

Background                                                                

The nation of Ghana was born, symbolically, at the inception of a new dawn (precisely, at noon, on the 6th of March 1957), with a declaration of independence by Kwame Nkrumah, then prime minister of Ghana (BBC News, 2000).  The symbolism and optimism of a “new dawn” was embodied in the design of a new flag adopted in the same year (GhanaWeb, 2013).  The national flag of Ghana consists of three horizontal stripes, each of equal dimension, and a five-pointed star at the centre.  The stripes are coloured, red, yellow and green from top to bottom and the star is black.  The red stripe symbolises the revolution against the British Empire and the blood of Ghanaians lost as a result.  The yellow stripe symbolises the mineral abundance in Ghana and the wealth that can be produced from it.  The green stripe symbolises the abundance of “nature” in Ghana.  The black star symbolises the independence and freedom of Ghana and Ghanaians.  The attempt to promote new beginnings, implicitly and explicitly, was clear.  Whether or not the new era would create fertile ground for a sustainable development with new forms of democracy will be assessed here, with a particular focus on urban areas.

Applying the Framework of Political Ecology

The article understands sustainable development as defined in the Brundtland Report: ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland Report, 1987). For the analysis of our case-study, we will adopt a post-structural political ecology framework.  Maddox, Giblin and Kimambo’s discursive metaphors of ‘Primitive Africa’ and ‘Merrie Africa’ (Maddox, Giblin and Kimambo, cited in Briggs, 2005: 107) will provide a further angle from which to analyse post-colonial discourses, policy trends and power dynamics.

Under colonial rule, the role of power in the distribution of and access to resources in Ghana, or the “Gold Coast” as it was known during this period, is well documented (Thomáš Brabenec, 2013).  European Powers, and particularly the British Empire towards the end of the colonial era, were able to secure mineral and natural wealth through physical coercion, justifying their actions by broadly referring to the “primitiveness” of Africa. (Thomáš Brabenec, 2013). However, the extraction and appropriation of resources by colonial forces was clearly not an example of sustainable development- it contributed neither to the economic, social or the environmental wellbeing of Ghanaians.

In the wake of the Second World War, Ghanaians emancipated themselves through the declaration of independence and the birth of a new nation.  Thus, the discourse of a “Primitive Africa” lost its power.  In fact, the death and destruction caused by the war was in a way indicative of a “Primitive Europe”.  The war had significantly reduced the real (and imagined) power of the physical coercion of the British (BBC News, 2003).  The scene was now set for a “Merrie Africa” or rather a “new dawn” of development by Ghana and for Ghana.

In spite of a series of coup d’états since independence, the first of which saw the complicity of the US in the time of the Cold War (Sylvan and Majeski, 2006), Ghana has now not seen military rule for 20 years (World Bank, 2013).  The construction of the Akosombo Dam in the early 1960s (Thomáš Brabenec, 2013) prior to the first of the coup d’états was an example of sustainable development as is the current construction of the Bui Dam (GhanaWeb, 2013).  However, the gains in renewable energy generated by these dams are offset to an extent by the disadvantages in terms of the displacement of residents in the area and the destruction of the biophysical environment associated with the construction of the dams and resultant flooding (Mettle, 2011).  Moreover, much of the energy generated by the Akosombo Dam is appropriated by Valco, a US company that partly funded the construction of the dam until relatively recently (Thomáš Brabenec, 2013). Furthermore, the apparent “de facto” immunity of Chinese citizens from prosecution for illegal gold mining, which is most likely due to China’s involvement in funding the Bui Dam (GhanaWeb, 2013; The Guardian, 2013) suggests that the scene for a “new dawn” of development by Ghana for Ghanaians is yet to arrive.

There are, however, signs of development by Ghana for Ghanaians in the relatively recent declaration of Ghana as a ‘middle income nation’ (World Bank, 2013).  A fledgling National Health Service is further indication of this trend (GhanaWeb, 2013).  Sadly, the income status of Ghanaians and the fledgling National Health Service are inconsequential for the millions of Ghanaians who are living in poverty with little or no access to infrastructure and services such as health care (Oxfam, 2011: 7).  The Ghanaians who “live” or rather subsist in informal settlements in urban areas such as Old Fadama in the capital of Ghana, Accra would testify to this claim (The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, 2012).  In fact, the contamination and pollution of the Korle Lagoon turned it into a hazardous dump and a source of unclean water and flooding incidents as well as a destination of domestic and international electronic waste (Think African Press, 2013) in Old Fadama. Forced eviction was thought to be the only feasible method of the cleaning of the lagoon (GhanaWeb, 2012; Modern Ghana, 2012), as a way to “sanitise” the area of poverty.

Representative democracy is clearly failing in the delivery of sustainable development for Ghanaians living in the region.  Marginalised citizens have organised themselves through, for example, savings groups and have turned towards a more deliberative and discursive form of democracy through partnerships and programmes centred upon the reduction of environmental hazards and the social injustice they face in their daily struggle for subsistence.  Shack/Slum Dwellers International, the Ghana Federation of the Urban Poor and the People’s Dialogue on Human Settlement of the Urban Poor have been instrumental to this (Sdinet, 2005) as has the Slum Union of Ghana (Think African Press, 2013).  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the government of Ghana.  They have been largely unresponsive to the partnerships and programmes attempting to solve these issues in the area (Think African Press, 2013). This therefore calls for more participatory processes to be promoted by the government, which would include all stakeholders. Participation would improve outcomes by integrating local knowledge and improving the monitoring of projects (Harris, 2013; citied in: Ostrom, 1990).

 

Conclusion

A political ecology framework has been used to analyse the deployment of democratic means to achieve sustainable development in the urban Global South.  Drawing from a post-structural framework assessing representative democracy and using a definition of sustainable development extracted from the Brundtland Report, we were able to compare and contrast, implicitly and explicitly, colonial rule under the British Empire versus representative democracy under Ghanaian rule.  We demonstrated much continuity in the appropriation of distribution of and access to resources (the appropriation of gold is a notable example) in so far as there continues to be inequality and a lack of sustainable solutions. This is largely due to power dynamics remaining unchanged.  The socio-environmental conditions in which the residents of Old Fadama live and struggle to survive is a stark example of this.  Perhaps, the coup de grâce of the (ongoing) experiment with representative democracy is the failure of government to embrace a more deliberative and discursive form of democracy in the country. Nevertheless, while a “fairer” form of democracy is more sustainable, it is important to note that a minority will always be left out in the process – not everybody’s needs can be met. However, an inclusive process is a stepping stone towards sustainability. The symbolism and optimism of a “new dawn” embodied in the national flag of Ghana remain poignant to this very day as sustainable development is yet to be achieved.

CITE THIS ARTICLE

Arubayi, D. (2014). Environmental Democracy? A case-study from Ghana | UCL Encyclopaedia of Political Ecology. [online] Available at: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/esd/environmental-democracy-a-case-study-from-ghana/

.

Bibliography:

BBC NEWS, (2000), Kwame Nkrumah’s Vision of Africa, [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/highlights/000914_nkrumah.shtml. [Accessed: 30th November 2013].

BBC NEWS, (2003), Britain, the Commonwealth and the End of Empire, [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/endofempire_overview_01.shtml. [Accessed: 1st December 2013].

Briggs, J., (2005), ‘The use of indigenous knowledge in development: problems and challenges’, Progress in Development Studies, 5 (2), pp. 99-114.

GhanaWeb, (2013), Ghana flag: Meaning of Colours, [Online]. Available at: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/faq/faq.php?faqnr=7. [Accessed: 1st December 2013].

GhanaWeb, (2013), Health Insurance in Ghana, [Online]. Available at: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/health/national_health_insurance_scheme.php. [Accessed: 1st December 2013].

GhanaWeb, (2012), Courage needed to deal with pollution of Korle Lagoon – Accra Mayor, [Online]. Available at: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=233575. [Accessed: 4th December 2013].

GhanaWeb, (2013), Bui dam provides new impetus for Sino-Ghana relations, [Online]. Available at: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=274883. [Accessed: 4th December 2013].

Harris, Leila, M. & Morinville, Cynthia (2013), “improving participatory water governance in Accra, Ghana”, CIGI-Africa Initiative, Policy brief, NO.7, Available at: http://www.africaportal.org  and http://www.cigionline.org/publications  (Accessed: 28th December, 2013).

Mettle, M. (2011), Forced resettlement in Ghana: The dam and the affected people,  [Online]. A Thesis submitted on requirement of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) for  Award of a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies Specialising in Geography, (Trondheim: Norwegian University of Science and Technology).

Modern Ghana, (2012), Dying Korle Lagoon.  [Online]. Available at: http://www.modernghana.com/news/399206/1/dying-korle-lagoon.html. [Accessed: 2nd December 2013].

Oxfam, (2011),  Achieving a Share Goal: Free Universal Health Care in Ghana,  [Online]. Available at: http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/rr-achieving-shared-goal-healthcare-ghana-090311-en.pdf. [Accessed: 4th December 2013].

Sdinet Media,  (2005), People’s Dialogue on Human Settlements (PD) and The Ghana Homeless People’s Federation (GHPF), [Online]. Available at: http://www.sdinet.org/media/upload/countries/documents/overview_of_ghana_federation_accra.pdf. [Accessed: 2nd December 2013].

Sylvan, D. and Majeski, S., (2006), ‘Ghana 1966’. US Foreign Policy in Perspective, [Online] Available at: http://www.us-foreign-policy-perspective.org/index.php?id=305. [Accessed: 1st December 2013].

The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, (2012), Discussion on the perils of fires in informal settlements. The case of Old Fadama- Accra, (London: Development Planning Unit), [Online]. Available at: https://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu/events/28-05-2012. [Accessed: 2nd December 2013].

The Guardian.  (2013), The price of gold: Chinese mining in documentary, [Online Video] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohrrE1rjzLo. [Accessed: 3rd December 2013].

Think African Press, (2013),  Ghana’s Old Fadama Slum: “We Want to Live in Dignity”,  [Online] Available at: http://thinkafricapress.com/ghana/old-fadama-slum. [Accessed: 4th December 2013].

Thomáš Brabenec,  (2013),   Ghana. [Online Video] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpIf8MgS-os [Accessed: 30th November 2013].

United Nations, (1987), Bruntland Report: Our Common Future, [Online]. Available at: http://conspect.nl/pdf/our_common_future-brundtland_report_1987.pdf. [Assessed: 29th November 2013].

World Bank, (2013), Ghana Overview, [Online]  Available at:  http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/ghana/overview. [Assessed: 1st December 2013].