Politics
Ghana: Presidential election between incumbent John Mahama and challenger Nana Akufo-Addo expected to be close
Ghana President John Mahama (l) and Challenger Nana Akufo-Addo. PHOTO/File
The presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana set for Friday are expected to be close. Under the winner-takes-all system, the prize is control over billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues expected to flow in the next four years, giving the victorious party the potential means not only to transform the economy but also to stay in power for a long time.
With Ghana’s economy booming — the International Monetary Fund predicts 8.2 percent growth this year, thanks to oil, cocoa and gold production and a strong construction and service sector — the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) might be expected to have a strong advantage.
Ghana has developed a recent tradition of tight elections, with power changing hands from the nominally center-left NDC to the center-right New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2000 and back again in 2008, when the winning margin was only about 40,000 votes. The peaceful handovers have made the country something of a model for the continent and helped attract foreign investment.
“Ghanaians are divided around two main parties just like the Democrats and Republicans in the U.S., so we always have a strong opposition,” said Bossman Asare, a political science lecturer at the University of Ghana. “Like in 2008, it’s very hard to predict a winner.”
The incumbent, John Mahama, 54, who studied in the former Soviet Union, was vice president until the death in July of then-president, John Atta Mills. Affable and measured, Mahama has campaigned on the ruling party’s record of improving health care and education, and on the strong economy. Oil production commenced in 2010, the fiscal deficit has been cut and the country achieved lower middle-income status last year for the first time.
Mahama is setting a target of 8 percent growth until 2016. Even so, he says the opposition’s plan to provide free senior high school tuition is not financially or practically viable, a view echoed by some of his supporters.
“We have not yet got the schools and teachers to support it,” said Daniel Addo, a 38-year-old driver. “Let Mahama first improve the quality of schools and continue other good work.”
