Abstract:
Zongo communities – comprising migrants from the northern
savannah of Ghana and neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger
and Northern Nigeria – are keenly involved in Ghanaian politics,
especially leading up to national elections. Representing an
important constituency, zongo residents expect their fair share of
representation in government to compensate their diverse
contributions to political activities. This article examines this
expectation and how zongo residents perceive government
policies and actions – including the creation of the Ministry of
Inner Cities and Zongo Development – seeking to address their
feelings of disengagement. Primary data were gathered during
2018 through a survey, focus group discussions and interviews
and analysed from a social exclusion theory perspective. Most
participants reported that there was no representation of the
zongos at national or local government level. Further, the
findings seemed to affirm that zongo residents are only politically
important before and during elections. Participants in our study
branded government interventions aimed at including zongo
communities as merely cosmetic and tricking zongo residents
into believing that government cares for them.
