Ghana: 2008 Elections and Beyond

The 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections showed some interesting and unexpected results all across the country. The NPP showed some strength in the northern and Volta region, where they have historically performed poorly. On the flip side, the NDC performed extremely well in the Central, Greater Accra, Western and Brong Ahafo regions. One surprising thing worthy of mentioning is the performance of the CPP led by Paa Kwesi Ndoum. I personally expected Paa to do better, much better than the 1.3 percent that he got. J. J. Rawlings' person, his perceived influence on Prof. Mills, perceived corruption in the NPP, arrogance of the NPP MPs and appointees, incumbency advantage, state of the socio-economic environment, and lastly but not the least, the growing percentage of post-1992 electorate are some of the prevailing phenomena that influenced the voting trend that we just witnessed.

For a good number of Ghanaians, the Rawlings years are still fresh in their memories, and the sheer thought of Rawlings coming back, albeit by an Attah-Mills presidency sends a chill down their spines. This is a man who has repeatedly said that he does not believe in democracy, with the history of his rule to back that up. The human rights abuses, nepotism and documented disrespect for authority and order need not be talked about. Compared to the relatively ordered, democratic and a freer society that the country is enjoying now, a good number of Ghanaians do not want to see the repeat of that era. I think the NDC had the right massage for the campaign and the time—change—but the messengers had a problem. Prof. Attah-Mills being the hand-picked of Rawlings, coupled with his mild manners, it is widely held that he could not be his own man and would strictly be under his masters' thumb. The boom speeches and the anger-filled campaign tactics that the former president embarked on simply undercut their message of change. I wondered what they wanted Ghanaian make of that "change "message. A "change" back to the Rawlings' era? I think the NDC will do itself a lot of good if it can rid itself of the two scarecrows next time around.

The NDC made political capital out of the perceived corruption in the NPP government. It is the kind of stigma that dogs every government that has ever ruled Ghana. People come into government not having even a bicycle, but after a few years the opulence and wealth that they display point to one thing only—corruption. The NPP is guilty of this cancer big time! They arrogantly display their wealth, and this very likely infuriated a great number of Ghanaians, whose anger had a meaningful expression in the dreaded "kokromotie" (thumb) on that fateful December 07, 2008. To their credit the NPP has lived up to its democratic and free market economic programs. This has no doubt brought inflation down, stabilized the cedi and improved upon conditions for businesses to thrive. Ironically, Ghana is a center-left country and folks still expect the government to open jobs. The NDC's charge that the government does not care about the welfare of the people found a home against the backdrop of the extravagance being displayed by the government appointees including the MPs.

Champions die hard, so they say, and ruling parties, especially in Africa, are usually hard to beat. The NPP run solidly on the achievement of the government over the last eight years. It was widely expected that the ruling party was going to win a landslide. I was very surprised over the outcome of the elections. The results, however, are a reflection of the realities of the Ghanaian electioneering campaigns. In 2000, at the end of Rawlings' term there was a runoff between Attah-Mills and Kufour, albeit the later entered with a slim advantage. This year, on the exit of the sitting president, there has been a runoff, and again Attah-Mills is going into the second round as the underdog. The fact is that, historically the NPP has had a slim majority in the country since 1992; the point of this paragraph is why the party was not able to combine its incumbency and positive developments in recent years to build upon their "majority" to win a landslide. That is debatable, but at this point I think it is safe to say that they held on to the slim majority precisely due to the incumbency.

There is one segment of the electorate that political students failed to figure out which direction they were leaning. I am talking about the post-1992 electorates who have no memory of the infamous Rawlings years. This is the group that tilted the elections heavily in favor of NDC. Copying the Obama's message of change plus his pictures that the NDC used was a night stalker that pulled the carpet under the NPP. The NPP must devise a new campaign strategy that can win over these folks. For now, however, I think the NPP is positioned to win the runoff.

In all, the Ghanaian democracy is growing and maturing, and once again we are "a city that shines on the mountain top" that gives light to the rest of Africa. Just as we showed the way in the struggle against colonialism, we are showing that Africa is capable of governing herself.

Long Live Ghana,
Long Live democracy.

Kwasi Amoakohene
([email protected])