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Political scientist, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, has reinforced the view that the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) defeat in the 2024 general elections was primarily due to economic mismanagement and the arrogance of power.
His remarks follow admissions by the NPP’s 2024 Presidential Candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who recently outlined several reasons for the party’s electoral loss.
Speaking during the launch of his nationwide ‘Thank You Tour’ at the Takoradi Technical University, Dr Bawumia cited the high cost of living, the refusal to reshuffle government officials, the controversial E-Levy, the domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP), and internal divisions as key factors.
He also dismissed claims that religious biases were the primary cause of the defeat.
Reacting on the Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Dr Asah-Asante said the factors mentioned by Dr Bawumia were long known to the public and had been consistently highlighted by political analysts.
He emphasised that the NPP’s defeat was rooted in widespread indiscipline in managing the economy, coupled with an unwillingness to heed advice.
According to him, the economy was problematic, which needed to be fixed, but the NPP ignored all calls.
Dr Asah-Asante stressed that in Ghanaian politics, the economy remains the number one factor influencing voter behaviour.
He said, “I think those who are saying that this was really, they were spoken to about this and they all advised along fell on their deaf ears, they are right. Right, in the sense that these were things that we pointed out. That there’s a problem about the economy, they said, no, everybody is facing economic problems, and that let’s even look at Russia and Ukraine.”
They attributed every problem to Russia and Ukraine. What is even laughable is the fact that they forgot or they refused to admit that some of the problems, even though I can see that, yes, you still have some of the problems attributed to a Russian-Ukraine crisis.”
“But what about the one that they themselves caused? That one, they were not honest to admit that. So they pushed everything to Russia and Ukraine, and people were telling them about the way they mismanaged the economy. The way they were indisciplined with their financial dealings. The way they were not ready to accept ideas in the area of economics, and the rest of them,” he said.
He continued: “And what I think now, I mean, the reality has gone on there now. There’s always a reward and punishment, and when they give you what is good and you refuse, you are punished. When you make use of it, you are rewarded. And that is going to help you to champion your cause. That’s it. All that Dr Bawumia is saying, we know already. And people like us saw that and we started talking about it.”
Dr Asah-Asante noted, “If you look at my conversation, I’ve always said that if you read the literature about voter choices, things that influence voters in this country, there are a number of them. And number one is the economy. Irrespective of somebody’s political ideology, political inclination and whatever they believe in, the economy is paramount to every Ghanaian voter. So when the economy goes down, it’s going to affect everybody. And people vote, number one, based on what?
“Because, when the economy improves, it influences every part of the Ghanaian political space. It rubs off on everybody and improves the lives of everybody. So once you allow the economy to slip through your fingers, you are gone, and you are oblivious to that fact. Most of the things you said were basically things which are economic in nature. So it tells you that the economy was problematic. They needed to fix that. They forgot about that.”