According to an editor with the Washington-based Ghana Drum, a monthly news magazine on Ghanaian affairs, acquiring a market stall at the Makola Market in Accra is impossible unless an applicant has the "right political connections" (21 Oct. 1994). The editor explained that having the "right political connections" means access to "political heavy-weights" and being a card-carrying member of the party in power and its organizations. The 31st December Women Movement is lead by the wife of President Jerry Rawlings and was created with the support of the former Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government headed by Jerry Rawlings (ibid.).

Although the source could not indicate specific examples of stall owners at the market becoming automatic members of the 31st December Women Movement or vice-versa, he stated that the old Makola Market was destroyed by the former government of Jerry Rawlings. The PNDC government thought the old market was dominated by "anti-revolutionary traders who thwarted the government's efforts to make prices of "essential commodities" (milk, sugar, bread and other local manufactures and food items) accessible to all Ghanaians (ibid.). The government also accused them of harbouring anti-government sympathies, and the new market was constructed by the same PNDC government (ibid.). The editor believed that under the circumstances surrounding the construction of the new market, merchants with known opposition party sympathies would find it difficult to acquire space at the new market. The market is managed and controlled by the Greater Accra City Council, whose leaders are members of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) or have pro-government leanings (ibid.).

The editor further stated that since store owners at the Makola Market are aware that they could lose their stalls if they were not perceived as pro-government, he would be surprised if the market women are not members of the 31st December Women Movement.

A journalist with the London-based New African stated that although it is not the official practice to make ownership of stalls linked to membership in the 31st December Women Movement or vice-versa, in practice it is essential to be a member of the governing party in order to keep one's stall or have access to more than one stall (21 Oct. 1994). According to the journalist, the government has been canvassing for new members for the organization, which is headed by the president's wife, and if it means using space at the market to encourage additional women's interest in the organization, he believes the government would do it (ibid.). The Makola Market women have a reputation for supporting the party in power, even if some Ghanaian governments have perceived the control the women have over the "essential" commodities trade in Ghana as threatening to their command of the national economy (ibid.). For Ghanaian governments to control the national economy, they have made it a priority to co-opt market women into their political organizations (ibid.).

A doctoral student at the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University in Toronto corroborated the information provided by the New African journalist (24 Oct. 1994). A Ghanaian professor at the Department of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University who specializes in African philosophy could not confirm that ownership of a stall at the market would inevitably link one to the 31st December Women Movement (24 Oct. 1994). However, he thought it would be reasonable to expect that membership in the organization would reinforce one's position at the market (ibid.).

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Doctoral student, Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, Toronto. 24 October 1994. Telephone interview.

Editor with the Ghana Drum, Washington, DC. 21 October 1994. Telephone interview.

Journalist with the New African, London. 21 October 1994. Telephone interview.

Professor specializing in African philosophy at the Department of Afro-American Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 24 October 1994. Telephone interview.