"Rawlings’ Chain: Famine and the long 1983 in Ghana"

In 1983, Ghanaians experienced one of the worst famines partially recorded in the nation’s history. This famine, partly attributed to general environmental conditions across West Africa as well as careless human actions such as bush burning, was compounded by a series of unpopular measures undertaken by the Jerry Rawlings regime. This culminated into what Ghanaians refer to as ’83 kɔm — to encapsulate the unprecedented and unusual period of food shortages and hunger experienced by many in the country but especially in Accra. In addition,’83 kɔm evokes sentiments and memories of hardship, suffering, and destitution associated with famine in Ghana’s 1983. As a consequence, there were changes in social behavior surrounding values in hospitality. This paper presents a historical analysis of the long 1983 in Ghana to address the question of why famines happen; in this case, what contributed to ’83 kɔm in Ghana? Secondly, it shows how people respond to famines by highlighting Ghanaian responses to government initiatives to combat the crisis. Through the lens of state-owned newspapers like The Peoples’ Daily Graphic, The Mirror as well as regional-specific newspapers like The Pioneer, The Combat, The People’s Evening News, Nsamankow and The Free Press, the paper illuminates on how Ghanaians responded to official government directives and policies aimed at mitigating the situation. I argue that the PNDC’s state-led initiatives to combat environmental challenges to food production as well as manage the distribution of goods across the country proved unpopular among the masses and aggravated peoples’ experiences leading to’83 kɔm. In other words, it was a combination of the regime’s responses to combatting food shortages and push back to these responses that increased vulnerability to hunger.