The man who played the role of Simon of Cyrene in "The Passion of the Christ" movie, Swiss-born and Ghanaian raised Jarreth Merz has warned that Ghana's embryonic experiment with 'democracy is very fragile and can't be taken for granted'. Merz was explaining his reasons for putting together a documentary on Ghana's 2008 general elections aptly titled "an African Election" at one of its premiering nights in London. The movie documents events leading up to the 2008 general elections and reveals that the presently ruling party, then the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) was preparing to plunge Ghana into chaos if they had not won power. Listening to a clip played on BBC's Art and Entertainment programme Sunday 27 November 2011 (09:52), you could clearly hear the sound of the voice of Rojo Mettle-Nunoo (now Deputy Minister of Health, then a representative of the NDC at the EC) churning out blatant lies from the Electoral Commission's (EC) so-called 'Strong Room' live on to Radio Gold. Rojo was shouting at the top of his voice lying about Kwabena Agyapong (former Press Secretary at the Castle and NPP representative at the EC Strong Room) having fictitiously brought in new election result figures from a different fax machine. This was the very act which incensed NDC youth led by the NDC CEO, Johnson Asiedua Nketia wedging all forms of implements to invade the EC head office. They threatened to destroy the commission's office and create upheavals and anarchy in Ghana if then presidential candidate, JEA Mills was not declared the winner. This makes interesting reading especially coming in the wake of recent revelations that president Mills directed his Director of Communication, Koku Anyidohu to threaten the NPP presidential candidate to show him “where power lies”. “I am saying it today that Akufo-Addo should dare,” Anyidoho charged. “I know Gabby [Otchere-Darko] is in London and listening. Gabby you are my friend and I’m telling you that you and that your Akufo-Addo, if you claim to be men, make a wrong move in this country and you will see where power lies. We are waiting for them since they say ‘all die be die’.” JEA Mills has portrayed himself as a christian and at all times has admonished that insults and violence ought to stop in Ghanaian politics. Indeed, Mills is a president who sees no evil, hears no evil and does no evil. His opponents say this shows his double standard and hypocrisy.
Jarreth was inspired by the need to caution Ghana and other African states not to be in a self-denial as the country might not be a second-time lucky as she did in 2008 considering upheavals in neighbouring states including the most recent in Ivory Coast. Merz says "an African Election challenges the preconceived notion we have about politics in Ghana or Africa without hiding the brutal realities." In his view, the problem with Ghana's elections is not about ethnicity or other things which readily come to mind whenever the subject of disputed elections come up. The main problem in Ghana, he revealed in an interview on the aforementioned BBC programme, is the ability of institutions (EC) to stand firm and demonstrate that it is capable of conducting and delivering neutral general elections. This is something that many Ghanaians today would prefer not to talk about but are silently worried about the inconsistent posturing of the EC on putting in place a biometric voting system in time for 2012 elections. Many have found the EC fumbling on the question of verification aimed at preventing multiple voting. Recent remarks by the EC boss, Dr. Afari-Gyan if it did anything actually added to the confusion. He rumbled on verification with electronic voting. Is somebody watching an African Election unfolding towards 2012? I fear for the worse!!!
"An African Election" features Nana Akufo-Addo, John Atta Mills, Jerry Rawlings, John Kufuor, Afari-Gyan, Kwesi Pratt, Hannah Tetteh, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo and Kwabena Agyepong, among others, and it has received great reviews across the globe, with the Los Angeles Times describing the documentary feature film as “the gripping examination of Ghana's 2008 presidential contest on display.”
The movie portrays how perilously close Ghana got to unleashing electoral violence as it shows footage of young teenagers being trained as militias with wooden guns wearing NDC T-Shirts.
It is a movie, which is likely to reignite the kind of sensation that gripped the nation after the cable releases from Wikileaks.
The 2008 presidential elections in Ghana serve as a backdrop for this feature documentary that looks behind the scenes at the complex political machinery of a third-world democracy struggling to legitimise itself.
Some Ghanaians who had the privilege to preview the documentary have been giving their views on it.
One of them said "I watched the premier of the movie in Amsterdam early this year and felt it was a good one but for the fact that it is not very well balanced. Nonetheless there are interesting lessons for us all to learn. It portrays how we can easily turn the country into flames with the kind of passion we attach to elections and how we conduct ourselves as politicians, a people etc etc. We need to learn lessons from it."
Jarreth was inspired by the need to caution Ghana and other African states not to be in a self-denial as the country might not be a second-time lucky as she did in 2008 considering upheavals in neighbouring states including the most recent in Ivory Coast. Merz says "an African Election challenges the preconceived notion we have about politics in Ghana or Africa without hiding the brutal realities." In his view, the problem with Ghana's elections is not about ethnicity or other things which readily come to mind whenever the subject of disputed elections come up. The main problem in Ghana, he revealed in an interview on the aforementioned BBC programme, is the ability of institutions (EC) to stand firm and demonstrate that it is capable of conducting and delivering neutral general elections. This is something that many Ghanaians today would prefer not to talk about but are silently worried about the inconsistent posturing of the EC on putting in place a biometric voting system in time for 2012 elections. Many have found the EC fumbling on the question of verification aimed at preventing multiple voting. Recent remarks by the EC boss, Dr. Afari-Gyan if it did anything actually added to the confusion. He rumbled on verification with electronic voting. Is somebody watching an African Election unfolding towards 2012? I fear for the worse!!!
"An African Election" features Nana Akufo-Addo, John Atta Mills, Jerry Rawlings, John Kufuor, Afari-Gyan, Kwesi Pratt, Hannah Tetteh, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo and Kwabena Agyepong, among others, and it has received great reviews across the globe, with the Los Angeles Times describing the documentary feature film as “the gripping examination of Ghana's 2008 presidential contest on display.”
The movie portrays how perilously close Ghana got to unleashing electoral violence as it shows footage of young teenagers being trained as militias with wooden guns wearing NDC T-Shirts.
It is a movie, which is likely to reignite the kind of sensation that gripped the nation after the cable releases from Wikileaks.
The 2008 presidential elections in Ghana serve as a backdrop for this feature documentary that looks behind the scenes at the complex political machinery of a third-world democracy struggling to legitimise itself.
Some Ghanaians who had the privilege to preview the documentary have been giving their views on it.
One of them said "I watched the premier of the movie in Amsterdam early this year and felt it was a good one but for the fact that it is not very well balanced. Nonetheless there are interesting lessons for us all to learn. It portrays how we can easily turn the country into flames with the kind of passion we attach to elections and how we conduct ourselves as politicians, a people etc etc. We need to learn lessons from it."
Another also thought "this film is a nice attempt to say something negative about the 2008 elections.
We in Ghana know what is good for us and we have always been fighting for it.
We fight for survival
We fight for daily bread
We fight to get education (any education)
We fight to get medical care(if any at all)
We fight to get shelter over our heads
the list continues.
Countrymen and women, let us take what is good about this film and throw into dustbin what is bad about it. Lets not attempt to throw the producer with the film......" And yet others felt that "Merz has been most unfair.
You do not present such a one-sided movie, show some youth being prepared for war and say it is a success story.
These are the kind of people who just hate to see Africa progress. Ghana will continue to hold peaceful elections and people like Merz can continue to view violence and describe us as a "democracy struggling to legitimise itself".
Truly, he is still trying to run away from his roots as he himself admits."
We in Ghana know what is good for us and we have always been fighting for it.
We fight for survival
We fight for daily bread
We fight to get education (any education)
We fight to get medical care(if any at all)
We fight to get shelter over our heads
the list continues.
Countrymen and women, let us take what is good about this film and throw into dustbin what is bad about it. Lets not attempt to throw the producer with the film......" And yet others felt that "Merz has been most unfair.
You do not present such a one-sided movie, show some youth being prepared for war and say it is a success story.
These are the kind of people who just hate to see Africa progress. Ghana will continue to hold peaceful elections and people like Merz can continue to view violence and describe us as a "democracy struggling to legitimise itself".
Truly, he is still trying to run away from his roots as he himself admits."
 | ||
| Filmmaker, actor & director Jarreth Merz (1 May 1970, Zurich) |
The movie director is Swiss-born Jarreth Merz who was raised in Ghana, Switzerland and Germany. He is also a filmmaker and an actor (you may remember him in the role of Simon of Cyrene in The Passion of the Christ). As a director, his work is rooted in observing life as it presents itself in all its complexities -- as shown in this latest documentary.
Meanwhile reactions among the major political actors back home in Ghana since excerpts were shown on a local television network on December 20, 2011 have been mixed. The Electoral Commission of Ghana has expressed surprise at what has been described as a secret video recording which captured events in its strong room during compilation of results of the 2008 general elections.
The recording forms part of a movie titled “An African Election”, a production by a Swiss-Ghanaian documentary film maker Jarreth Merz.
Excerpts of the video which was shown on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana on Tuesday night featured Nana Akufo-Addo, President John Evans Atta Mills, J. J Rawlings, deputy Health Minister Rojo Mettle-Nunoo and Kwabena Agyepong, among others.
Officials of the EC say though they have not seen the footage, it is not a regular practice to allow private cameras into the strong room without authorisation.
Speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of the ruling NDC, Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, said though he is not sure what the laws say about cameras in the election strong room, he believes it can promote electoral transparency.
Mettle-Nunoo, who is captured in the footage in an argument with the NPP’s Kwabena Agyepong over an alleged change of results, said documenting events in the strong room could be a useful exercise for electoral transparency.
Meanwhile, the NPP General Secretary, Sir John, who also described the video as revealing in an interview with Citi News said good lessons could be drawn from the video.
“It is a lesson for us to know what we should do next time when people are sent to the strong room of the EC,” he said.
The movie director followed the key players in Ghana politics for almost three months to provide an unprecedented insider’s view of the political, economic and social forces at work in Ghana. He built suspense by taking the viewer down the back roads of the nation to capture each unexpected twist and turn in a contest that is always exciting and never predictable. Throughout the film, Merz depicted the pride and humanity of the larger-than-life politicians, party operatives and citizens who battle for the soul of their country.
Merz's stepfather, a political player on Ghana, helped him get access behind the scenes; then Jarretth and his cameraman brother Kevin followed the presidential candidates in the unpredictable months leading up to the final night. In chronicling the rough-and-tumble process of a democratic election, the documentary becomes a meditation on the dream of democracy itself. Merz is now working on a “political safari” in Africa.
Meanwhile reactions among the major political actors back home in Ghana since excerpts were shown on a local television network on December 20, 2011 have been mixed. The Electoral Commission of Ghana has expressed surprise at what has been described as a secret video recording which captured events in its strong room during compilation of results of the 2008 general elections.
The recording forms part of a movie titled “An African Election”, a production by a Swiss-Ghanaian documentary film maker Jarreth Merz.
Excerpts of the video which was shown on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana on Tuesday night featured Nana Akufo-Addo, President John Evans Atta Mills, J. J Rawlings, deputy Health Minister Rojo Mettle-Nunoo and Kwabena Agyepong, among others.
Officials of the EC say though they have not seen the footage, it is not a regular practice to allow private cameras into the strong room without authorisation.
Speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of the ruling NDC, Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, said though he is not sure what the laws say about cameras in the election strong room, he believes it can promote electoral transparency.
Mettle-Nunoo, who is captured in the footage in an argument with the NPP’s Kwabena Agyepong over an alleged change of results, said documenting events in the strong room could be a useful exercise for electoral transparency.
Meanwhile, the NPP General Secretary, Sir John, who also described the video as revealing in an interview with Citi News said good lessons could be drawn from the video.
“It is a lesson for us to know what we should do next time when people are sent to the strong room of the EC,” he said.
The movie director followed the key players in Ghana politics for almost three months to provide an unprecedented insider’s view of the political, economic and social forces at work in Ghana. He built suspense by taking the viewer down the back roads of the nation to capture each unexpected twist and turn in a contest that is always exciting and never predictable. Throughout the film, Merz depicted the pride and humanity of the larger-than-life politicians, party operatives and citizens who battle for the soul of their country.
Merz's stepfather, a political player on Ghana, helped him get access behind the scenes; then Jarretth and his cameraman brother Kevin followed the presidential candidates in the unpredictable months leading up to the final night. In chronicling the rough-and-tumble process of a democratic election, the documentary becomes a meditation on the dream of democracy itself. Merz is now working on a “political safari” in Africa.
