Early in March of this year, Ghana celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its independence, pleased with the pioneering role it had taken up among the sub-Saharan states in the fight against colonial rule. Much has happened since then. When, early in the 1990s, the country set out on the path towards democratisation, the former opposition party NPP became the strongest force, and its candidate, John Agyekum Kufuor, prevailed over the former dictator, Jerry John Rawlings.