With a margin not so wide, Ghanaians have chosen President John Dramani Mahama to rule them for the next four years in a race described by local and international observers as free and fair, writes Group Political Editor BOLADE OMONIJO
GHANA and Nigeria have so many things in common. They share a similar political history. Ghana was granted independence in 1957 by the British colonial overlords. Nigeria followed suit three years later. Then came the military coups d’etat in the two countries and subsequent putsches. In May 2010, Nigeria lost President Umaru Yar’Adua to a protracted illness and last July, it was the turn of Ghana as President John Atta-Mills died in a similar circumstance.
In Nigeria, the vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, took over as President in the period before the April 2011 presidential election and Ghana’s Vice President John Dramani Mahama succeeded Mills between July and December 7. Both men subsequently obtained their parties’ tickets and went ahead to win the polls.
After his inauguration next January, President Mahama is expected to assume full control of governance in Ghana. In a way, he is more than a President in the federal setting. Ghana combines features of the presidential and parliamentary systems of government, but has a unitary structure. By that, it has a single tier of government and, as Chief Executive, the president rules the waves. In the period leading up to 2016, Mahama is expected to rule the waves in the Republic of Ghana.
Ghana Decides 2012
The polls lived up to the prediction of a tight race. As it was in 2008, when the two major political parties were involved in a cliff hanger race, Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Nana Akuffo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) went into last Friday’s poll with no clear winner in sight. The wind, it was predicted, could blow in either direction. The other six candidates merely made up the number.
As the incumbent, Mahama was favoured. But the incumbency factor had not always worked in Ghana. The first election of this dispensation, which was held in 1992, saw Jerry Rawlings (who was transiting from a military leader to a democratically elected President) victorious. Four years later, he was reelected. However, when Rawlings, had to step down, he sought to hand over the mantle to his deputy, the late John Attah-Mills. However, at the poll, the NPP’s candidate, John Kuffour, was the preferred candidate.
Kuffour was in charge from 2000 to 2008. But, when the gentle giant had to quit the scene, he too attempted to hand over to Akuffo-Ado. Again, the electorate decided otherwise, choosing the late Mills after a closely fought runoff election decided by votes from Tain constituency.
While the NPP is still protesting the results declared by the Kwadwo Afari-Gyan-led electoral commission, the society appears to have accepted that the decision was taken in the Ghana tradition. The NDC, Afari-Gyan said, polled 5,574,763 votes to the NPP’s 5,248,898 votes. Therefore, with 50.7 per cent of the total votes cast, Mahama was declared the winner. Akuffo-Addo, a veteran presidential candidate, lost again after a good showing. The constitution requires the winner to have a clear simple majority win.
Supporters of Akuffo-Addo had expected him to win. They hinged the expectation on the rancour within the NDC, especially the open disenchantment by the Rawlings family.
Strategists of the NPP also argued that President Mahama was yet to consolidate his hold on power. Hoping to cash in on possible sympathetic votes from the Ashanti, NPP rolled out the electoral tank. The opposition party campaigned vigorously and rigorously. It lost.
International observers react
Ghana’s domestic observers have endorsed the result. The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) told the press in Accra, the capital city, that the results declared by the commission tallied largely with the compilation by its 4,000 representatives in all the constituencies.
Observers from the Commonwealth of Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) described the polls as “peaceful and transparent” .
The NPP national leader, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, however, decried the performance of the Electoral Commission. He said the figures “cast serious doubts on the credibility of the results”. Former President John Kuffour, a leader of the party, complained of widespread hitches.
In an interview with Reuters, Akuffo-Addo said: “We have serious reservations about the counting and the declaration of results. The obvious action is to go to challenge the results in the courts.”
If the party carries out its threat, it would be the first time in the current dispensation that Ghana’s presidential election requires intervention by the judiciary to validate the election.
Between 2008 and 2012
Although the gross figures showed that the victory margin was very narrow, the details suggest otherwise. Unlike 2008 when the NPP had the upper hand in four of the 10 regions, it could only record victory in the Ashanti and eastern regions this year. In 2008, it was the preferred party in Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Western regions in the December 27 rerun.
In last Friday election, the heavy Ashanti sentiments against a minority ascending the throne played out. The NPP won 1.54 million votes to NDC’s 522,666. Although the NDC recorded victory in Greater Accra, it was narrow. The party had 1.3 million votes to NPP’s 1.02 million. When the NPP votes in the two regions is added to the Eastern region’s where it polled 651,000, the party had more than 3.2 million of its 5.2 million from only three regions.
On the contrary, the NDC was the choice of Ghanaians in eight regions. It performed particularly well in the Northern regions, recording more than 80 per cent in Upper Volta and close to 70 per cent Upper east and Upper West. In the Northern Region, the party won about 58 per cent.
For Mahama, it is the beginning of another era. Coming on board at a point the exploration of oil is introducing a new phase in public finance, Mahama has the right setting to become a great President. Can he recreate Ghana?
All over for Akuffo-Addo?
The 68-year old Akuffo-Ado is a lawyer of repute and a politician of note. He was born into a political family, with his father, the late Edward Akuffo-Ado serving as President from 1970 to 1972. He has been involved in the political life of Ghana since the transition period in the early 90s and was close to snatching victory in the 2008 presidential poll.
He polled more 4.20 votes to Attah-Mills’ 4.07 but failed to satisfy the constitutional stipulation that anyone who must mount the saddle must have a clear mandate of the majority of Ghanaians. The votes he received represented 49.32 per cent of the total votes cast as against the 47.76 per cent received by Attah-Mills. That was the NPP candidate’s undoing as the NDC won the rerun.
