Ethnicity and Electricity

Zuuri, the village I am staying in and Binduri, the village connected to Zuuri, don't have electricity altough nearby Bawku and communities on the main road have had electricity since 2000. The main hardship, especially when talking to the men, is the lack of electricity in their community. The reasons people give are usually very political with ethnic undertones.

For example, the electoral system in Ghana operates such that you vote for a president and an MP representative seperately. The current party in power is the NPP...whose slogan read " so far so good" - this seems like a very apathetic slogan for a political party but who am I to judge the local meaning. The representative elected for this area is from the second major party the NDC so he does not have to ear so to speak of the president to further development initiatives in this area. This seems to be one reason why, although it was promised in the las election in 2004 and before that, electricity has not yet arrived. During the last election the NDC candidate I think or the presidential, I'm not sure, came and installed the posts to support the wires but since then nothing has happened. The government recently wanted to remove the posts to provide electricity for a nearby funeral of a chief which caused quite an uproar in the community. They did not get the poles although they are still without wires.

I am currently writing because the generator is running for Ema to work on the computer. He is the accountant and he must do some reporting for PAGEV, a water and sanitation project along the white volta river.

The other reason for the lack of electricity runs much deeper into the history of the area and the settlement and migration patterns of people back in the early 1900s. The Kussasis people are the native people from this area, they were living in this area for ages in an unhierarchized society. The Mamprusi tribe were traders from the north or nomadic, depending on which account. From what Alhassan told me, they were establishing a trade route through this area but kept having problems with robbery so they decided to send people to settle the area. One way or the other they came to settle here. THey had a very hierarchized society with a clear power structure and soon came to rule over Kussasi people. There was therefore a situation where the majority Kussasi were dominated by a minority Mamprusi which lasted until the 1960s I believe when the Kussasi people organized and fought back. Ghana gained independence in 1957 and the government representative came and made the decision that the Kusassi were the rightful people to have power of governance so the Mamprusi people had to give up their positions. Even now this thread is very prevalent in politics as it is very hard for a mamprusi leader to be elected into government because people fear Mamprusis in positions of power. In 2000 and 2002 brief conflicts flared up again surrounding this ethnic tensions but were quickly resolved. Since there has been so much intermarriage and Kusal is the dominant language spoken in the area the differences in ethnicity are no longer clear cut and for the most part I don't think it affects people's lives. They certainly do not talk about it much. But when people talked about why they did not have electricity they were clear to point out that in this area most people are Mamprusi and are thus not on the receiving end of development in this area. I have not been able to talk to too many people so I do not know how accurate this is or how many people attribute ethnicity and politics to underdevelopment at a community level. It's an interesting story though......and either way I hope electricity will come here soon because people do enjoy it.

Right now people use latterns with oil or flash lights with batteries so function after dark. Alhassan my neighbour has a TV and VCR and sometimes buys petrol to show Nigerian movies to the 50+ people that show up. I think the biggest impact of electricity in this area will be in the mindset of the people who now feel left behind and abandonned to a certain extent since they can see others who have light when they do not. They are also worried that it would be a great hardship for me but I try to tell people about tree planting and Alveena and put their minds at ease. Normally, when the sun goes down I am so tired that I fall straight to sleep, earlier than most, so for me maybe there is even less of an effect.