The Mahama administration came into office with so much goodwill from Ghanaians. The President having won a keenly contested election faced some challenges in the initial stages of his tenure.
The nation had to be in a state of painful suspension for about eight months because the opposition New Patriotic Party had challenged the results of the elections at the Supreme Court .Ghanaians had no option but to accept the excuses of the NDC government for its inability to deliver in the first year of their tenure.
Even though the 2012 elections were fraught with many challenges due to the use of biometric machines, the elections in my estimation was a marked improvement on all the elections held in Ghana since 1992. The 2012 elections were fought on issues with less time spent on personality attacks. Education, energy, health and the economy were some of the topical issues that the political parties campaigned on. The issue of education was central to the two major political parties, whilst one was promising a free education; the other party was campaigning on quality and accessibility.
The campaign of the two political parties caught on well with their supporters and floating voters. It elevated the political process and informed most of the electorate on the issues and challenges that were prominent in the educational sector.
The Mahama administration having governed the country for almost three years now should have performed better, but that is not the case. One would have expected a party that is in its second term to build on the gains of previous governments, but the current situation is the opposite. The government is faced with a myriad of challenges ranging from allegations of corruption, payment of dubious judgement debt, depreciation of the cedi against the major currencies, delay in statutory payments, erratic power and water supply, high rate of unemployment, increase in taxes and utility services.
The situation at hand for now seems herculean to the current NDC government, they seems not to have a panacea to most of this challenges and this is evident in some of the hasty decisions that this government has taken in the past few months. The measures announced by Bank of Ghana to arrest the falling cedi some months back and the reversal of these measures after complaints from industry and policy analysts , the call by some members of the party for the dismissal of the finance minister due to his handling of the economy, the international embarrassment caused by former sports minister by flying over 3 million dollars to Brazil during the world cup and the recent bailout from IMF are all indications of the enormous challenges facing the government.
On countless occasions, the President has “promised”, “ordered”, “instructed” and “directed” his appointees to fix problems in their various sectors, but these challenges have remained with us. Countless reshuffling and major changes at the flagstaff house have not helped matters. It seems most of these ministers are only interested in riding in their cross country vehicles and enjoying all the perks that come with the office but have failed to do what is expected of them.
The President and other key members of the party have on many occasions come out to assure Ghanaians of an improvement in the affairs of the nation but with the current energy crisis, the continuous increase in the price of goods and services and the inability of the government to stamp its authority on the various corruption allegations exposed by the media, the future seems bleak for the current administration.
The current situation looks so good for any opposition political party to take advantage of the shortfalls of the government and offer alternatives to the citizenry but this does not seem to be the case. The opposition with their numbers in parliament seems not to be doing much to help take Ghanaians out of the current situation. Professor Kwame Karkari, the former Executive Director of the Media Foundation of West Africa last year criticised the New Patriotic Party for failing to hold the government accountable. The NPP being the largest opposition party and a potential government in waiting has not done much to prove to Ghanaians that they are prepared to assume the reins of power come 2016.
The party has failed to proffer alternative solutions to the issues bothering this country. The frosty relation amongst the national executives of the party and reports of violence in the Ashanti region during the vetting process of parliamentary candidates is sending wrong signal to the electorate. It seems like the NPP are not ready for power, they prefer destroying personalities in their party instead of working towards winning power in 2016.
They are oblivious to the fact that their common “enemy” is the NDC and not themselves. The infighting is not helping the party and this is a great disservice to the Ghanaian electorate. The current situation puts the floating voter in a dilemma; the Ghanaian voter is faced with retaining the non performing NDC or voting for a party which is ill prepared to assume the reins of power.
The current situation calls for a third political force, but is the Ghanaian ready for that third force? The PPP, CPP and other smaller parties have not shown that commitment which makes them a third force in our current democratic dispensation. The smaller parties need to do more in order to win the confidence of the Ghanaian electorate. Our current dispensation needs that third force to ensure that the two major political parties would feel threatened by their existence.
The developments in the two major political parties should serve as a clarion call for us the electorate to start looking for a formidable third force. A political party that would act differently from the two major parties on the scene, but the question we need to ask ourselves is whether we are prepared to embrace a third force in our political dispensation? We have religiously voted for one party or the other based on tribal, ethnic and personality lines. We have failed to critically exam the issues and challenges confronting our nation in order for us to choose the best party to govern this country.
Till we find a way of dealing with these two political parties, our destiny would be tied to bad governance from our current crop of leaders. We must find an alternative to the two major parties. A third political force is a must. Ghana must work again and this country can only work when we have a formidable political system which puts government on it toes.
Mustapha Jimah
Department of Communication and Media Studies
University of Education, Winneba.
Winneba
[email protected]
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