2024 Ghana Presidential Election: Will There Be a Change of Guard?

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additional reports by Jide Mohammed in Accra

Today’s Presidential Election in Ghana will probably be one of the most interesting in the history of the West African country. It is surely going to be a straight battle between the ruling New Patriotic Party [NPP] and the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress [NDC], who have ruled the country each for 16 years since democracy returned to Ghana in 1992. The contending issues on the ground are clear factors that will largely determine the outcome of the election. Ghana, Africa’s largest gold producer and the world’s second largest cocoa producer, is amid a seemingly unending economic crisis which, according to many observers, is the worst in a generation, and which consequences have done so much damage to the living conditions of the citizenry.
Indeed, to state that it has laid many businesses bare is an understatement – with soaring inflation on all fronts. To start with, the effects of the Coronavirus disease [COVID 19] that ravaged most of planet earth in 2020 have not yet abated in some countries like Ghana and, in the face of worsening economic situation, the government has not proved competent in assuaging the feelings of the people. Rising costs of doing business especially with the skyrocketing of the dollar exchange rate with the Ghanaian Cedi, steep rise in energy costs – such as fuel and electricity, and the soaring costs of importation, have all combined to bring the Ghanaian economy to its toes.
As the management of the economy is a main concern going into the election, voters will have to take the decision to either continue with the ruling party whose candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia, 61, is the sitting Vice President, and John Dramani Mahama, 66, a former president from whom Akufo-Addo took over in January 2017. For many Ghanaians, electing Bawumia, a protege of the current President, Nana Akufo-Ado, is to ensure a continuation of the same government that has failed to alleviate the suffering of Ghanaians.
Indeed, apart from the economic crisis, failed electoral promises have dampened the faith of many people in the ruling party. To them, returning former President Mahama would usher in a new approach to solving the economic crisis and a new lease of life. However, there are many sympathisers of the ruling NPP who believe that the government is doing its best to restore confidence in the economy. Afterall, they reason, it was during Mahama’s time that Ghana’s economic problems became manifest.
Given that Ghana has had a history of close calls regarding the outcome of its presidential elections, especially since 1992, it is believed that the two major parties will square up with each other in today’s election. However, the chances of the opposition party of John Mahama, NDC, to achieve above the mandatory 50 plus percent required to succeed Akufo-Addo are high. Elections into the Ghanaian Parliament also hold today with 276 seats up for grabs across all the 16 regions of the country. As voting has commenced in a country which elections are largely free of the violence witnessed in many parts of West Africa, there is much optimism that the people’s wish will prevail when the total votes are counted.