Ghana prepares for elections 2024
General elections in Ghana are less than two years away, precisely, on December 7, 2024. But political parties and political persons seeking office in 2025 are already in campaign mode.
Some members of the ruling government have resigned to start their campaigns as demanded by their party’s constitution. And some of the opposition leaders have declared their intentions to contest for nomination, while others are preparing with the nomination and election of potential candidates for the presidency and the Parliament. And alongside, political campaigns of sorts have begun, even though in some cases they flout the party’s constitution.
In the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), two members who held cabinet positions in government have resigned to contest for the nomination process. They are Messrs. Alan Kyeremateng former minister of Trade and Industry, and Owusu Afriyie Akoto, former minister of Food and Agriculture, Vice President Mahamodu Bawumia is expected to join the contestants. Others include Messrs. Kennedy Agyapong, MP for Assin Central; Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, former General Secretary of NPP former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Joe Ghartey,MP for Essikado Ketan; former MP for Mampong, Ashanti Francis Addai-Nimoh, and former Minister of State, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, who is also a former MP for Offinso North as well as Boakye Agyarko former minister of energy. Others may pop up along the way.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), the country’s largest opposition party has former President John Dramani Mahama, former Minister of Finance and Governor of Bank of Ghana, Kwabena Dufuor and a former Metropolitan Chief Executive of Kumasi, Kojo Bonsu who have officially expressed interest to lead the party in 2024.
Since the 4th Republic the political climate of the nation has been dominated essentially by two political parties – the NPP and the NDC. In all there are about 29 political parties many of them belong to the Nkrumahist CPP tradition, but none of them has impacted the politics of the country since the inception of the 4th Republic.
What is happening now is akin to foreplay to the real event of the primaries, and as political foreplays go, it takes more than mere promises for citizens to acquiesce and achieve orgasmic satisfaction. John Owusu Afriyie, aka, Sir John, former General Secretary of the NPP, responding to his loss of the position in 2014 made the famous quote, “fear delegates, not ghosts.” In other words, the difference in what delegates say is very different from how they vote.
The question to all irrespective of party is ‘what do potential leaders’ have for Ghana and its people? The military regime of the PNDC metamorphosed into a civilian rule in 1993 with the removal of the “P” in PNDC. Nothing else changed. And again, even after the civilian ouster of the NDC in 2000, not much had changed in Ghana.
Alan Kyeremateng, among his colleagues from the NPP, after resigning to run for the flagbearership, started to disassociate himself from his party’s policies by saying that he did not share some of his government’s policies, of which he was a cabinet member. We are eagerly waiting for the message of the Vice President to the Ghanaian electorate! Kennedy Agyepong, in his usual characteristics mood and mode has resorted to condemn his NPP government when and where he sees fit to the discomfort of some party apparatchik. The message of the rest of NPP contestants are basically muted for now!
Propaganda has begun in earnest and it is not coming from the opposition alone. Many in the NDC party perceive the NPP as incompetent and unable to solve the nation’s problems that have been ascribed to Covid-19 and the Russian Ukraine war. President Mahama submits himself as the only savior that can save Ghana from its dire economic situation.
Would election 2024 be determined by the performances of the NPP and the NDC while both were in Office? Both parties have had 4 terms each from 1993 to 2024. Opinions on who performed better than the other depends on who one asks. The NPP may be credited with more pro poor policies such asthe fee-free Senior High School program and infrastructural projects, but as a Nigerian politician said “na projects we go chop?” On this score, former President Mahama may be right when he said inter alia “Ghanaians forget too soon.” Basic commodity needs are currently too high in the country and Ghanaians, rightly so, blame the government in power!
Pronouncements of politicians at times like these portend prospective security breaches and violence during elections, and both parties are guilty. The latest such pronouncement comes from Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Agriculture and the MP for Abetifi. He is reported to have said that the NPP is not ready to hand over to the NDC. Interpretation has been varied from those who predict war to those who find nothing untoward in the statement. It is practically two years more to go but the doomsday prophets are already at work. It is not unusual for such pronouncements and unnecessary quips to emerge. In fact, recent reactions from some constituencies, including the home constituency of former President John Mahama at Bole in the Savannah Region and the Western Region to the ex-president do not bode well for him.
Some six persons lost their lives in the last elections in 2020, according to NDC operatives. So far nothing has been done to address the sad situation, and the opposition is not happy thinking it was perpetrated by the ruling party.
Already the airwaves are inundated with propaganda from both parties, but none of the candidates has declared their proposals for the country or alternative policies to the ruling government’s policies. It is indeed early yet but we expect the parties should be preparing their manifestos for Ghanaians to be able to make their choices. We are aware, however, that development projects do not always win elections. Strategies do.
The economy is not in favor of the ruling NPP and the complaints are becoming louder and the propaganda getting more acerbic. Frankly the NPP has a long way to go to achieve its hope of remaining in office after 2024. Ex-President Mahama was the military general who lost a battle and should have retired in peace as war generals mostly do. He would be a political goner in oblivion should he lose the primaries or the presidency. The Asante Kente motif “adwene asa” (all avenues of thought are exhausted) is as factual today as the day the kente cloth was so named! His tenure of office was not as successful as Ghanaians expected and his attitude after his presidency has not been endearing.
Meanwhile, each party has sworn fealty and Ghana must be ready for anything.
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