Ghana’s ruling New Patriotic Party; a party that was seen by a good majority of the Ghanaian people as their last resort just some 6 years ago, is gradually losing the love and support of the people. The NPP, led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, made history when they beat The National Democratic Congress and then president John Dramani Mahama at the polls with a whooping 1 million plus votes difference in December 2016. president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has gone on to win his second term in 2020 against a more spirited NDC that split parliament in two with the NPP. One question that political critiques and pundits keep asking however is “Why then did the presidential elections not run into a run-off?”
To answer that question one would have to critically analyze the candidates that were paraded by both the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress. The New Patriotic Party came in with a a sitting president and his vice; the two who had just made senior high school education free. They also boasted of completing projects that were initiated by their predecessor and claimed the vision to digitize the Ghanaian economy, was well on course. The national Democratic Congress on the other hand, paraded the president who lost to the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo led NPP and a former education minister who was alleged to have disrespected teachers during her time as Education Minister. Clearly, this was going to be a long shot for the NDC yet they managed to give the NPP a run for their money.
Today however, the Ghanaian people continue to juggle problems that could have been solved with simple policies aimed at alleviating the suffering of the masses. Prices of goods and services keep escalating while government is hell bent on taxing the juice out of the citizenry. The New Patriotic Party boasts of the largest size of government in the history of Ghana if not the world while uncompleted school blocks rot away all over Ghana. Ghana, a country blessed with an abundance of gold, diamond, bauxite, oil, coal among other expensive natural resources, is still heavily dependent on loans and taxes after 6 decades of self rule. The New Patriotic Party’s recent attempt to implement a 1.7% tax on electronic transactions seem to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Ghanaian people are demanding the return of the NDC like never before and the party must rise to the occasion if they want to take advantage of the situation.
What must the party do therefore to benefit from the the recent dip in popularity of their bitterest rivals? Well! There is a simple answer to that: serve the people what they have always been asking for. The people of Ghana have made it emphatically clear at the polls that they really want the National Democratic Congress in power but with a different flag bearer. Former president John Dramani Mahama despite being one of the most experienced if not the most experienced politician on the African continent, failed to make much of an impact on the Ghanaian electorates during his first term in office. Throughout the entire duration of his tenure, the Ghanaian people had to cope with intermittent power supply, inflation, and a very unstable Cedi; memories of which are still very much alive in Ghanaian minds. It will therefore be difficult to get the requisite number of votes with him at the forefront of the NDC’s campaign.
A stout supporter of the former president will however argue that most of the aforementioned problems are still here even under the New Patriotic Party hence John Dramani Mahama could be said to be vindicated. I beg to differ! As the saying goes, “in a vote between two evils, I chose not to vote at all” and I believe I speak for a good majority of the Ghanaian voters when I say that. NPP are failing at the task of managing the affairs of Ghana, the least the NDC could do is present a candidate that does not have as much dirt that could be used by their rivals to neutralize scores. It has therefore become very imperative for the National Democratic Congress to present other candidates like Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, Professor Joshua Alabi, Mr. Gussie Tano or even youngsters like Zanetor Rawlings, John Dumelo and Sam George Dzata. Dropping former president John Dramani Mahama is the bitter pill that the National Democratic Congress have to swallow if they really want to take back the power.
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