“[The] willingness of the loser to accept defeat gracefully and the victor to show respect for the losing side is one of the hallmarks of a stable democracy,” — A former United Nations secretary-general and a Ghanaian national THE MAKING OF MAHAMA: The Sisyphean slog of dealing with the perennial conundrum of corruption while trying to juggle so many economic and political balls without dropping any of them is contemporary Ghana's challenge. Corruption, perpetuated by party and government officials content with the status quo, has dogged Ghana for decades. This was the most pertinent question that concerned Ghanaian voters on 7 December. The country's electorate today craves a courageous president-elect that is not terrified to tell Ghanaian politicians some home truths. Rarely has Ghana looked lonelier in a region gripped by political tensions. It is easy to see why Ghana ranks extremely high in world esteem — it is an oasis of peace and prosperity in a politically precarious region. It is no secret that Ghana's 14 million voters cast their ballots based largely on an ethnic basis. Yet, ethnicity and tribalism is not regarded as serious a problem as in other African states. Corruption, the Ghanaian voter insists, is the country's most persistent predicament. Extravagant hopes are not being placed on any of the leading presidential hopefuls. This is not necessarily retrospective. And like the American system after which Ghanaian democracy is modelled, elections takes place every four years. Every election the Ghanaian electorate expects the country to change course. This is a red herring. Few Ghanaians suspect that corruption can be dealt with instantaneously. Most politicians know that they will continue to pursue politics as a cover for their corrupt activities. The question is why do most Ghanaians believe in the democratic system. Ghana suffered from coup d'état and military dictatorships for decades. Therefore, most Ghanaians genuinely believe that the Western-style multi-party system is the most suited to the country and far preferable to authoritarianism or military rule. “We have a fair idea of what the outcome of the elections will be,” Ghanaian President-elect John Dramani Mahama disclosed before the close of the poll. “But, as a law abiding political party, we shall wait for the electoral commission to make an official declaration,” Mahama expounded. He reasons with a kind of sanguine nihilism. For all the rumples in reasoning, the Ghanaian presidential and parliamentary polls are to a large extent predictable. The results follow a certain pattern. The Ghanaian electorate votes in a certain manner, by and large according to regional and ethnic affiliations. Ghana is not only one of the richest countries per capita in Africa south of the Sahara, but also has one of the fastest growing economies and most stable democratic systems of government. The Ghanaian electorate is fixed on the future and Ghanaian politicians — in particular those of the two main parties — are racked with too little self-doubt. Ghana also has one of the best human rights records in Africa. The nation's first free elections since independence from Britain in 1957, when Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah was democratically elected, took place in 1992 after a referendum in that same year that enshrined the Western-style multi-party system of government. With political pluralism promulgated as law, Ghana has not looked backwards. Mahama's autobiographical work My First Coup d'Etat was an eye-opener. It indicates his Nkrumaist sympathies. His father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama, was a minister in Kwame Nkrumah's government. This historical fact has left an indelible mark on Mahama's ideological outlook. Mahama is at the helm even as Ghana rolls out the barrels. Oil royalties will undoubtedly enrich some Ghanaians. But, the country's politicians are not yet sharing out the barrels. There were eight presidential candidates but only two had a real chance of winning. Director of Public Affairs at the Electoral Commission Christian Owusu Parry noted that the contest of the 275 parliamentary seats by 1,332 candidates from 14 of the 23 registered political parties was to be conducted in as fair a manner as possible. There were 133 female contestants in Ghana's 2012 parliamentary elections. All in all, there were some 1,332 parliamentary candidates. The two major parties, the chief opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) have alternated power since the introduction of multi-party democracy. The NPP is right of centre and the NDC is left of centre, but in reality there is very little difference between the rightwing NPP and the left-leaning NDC founded by military strongman turned democratically-elected president in 1992 Jerry John Rawlings. He still has a strong and devout following among the ruling NDC. The ruling NDC, however, is composed of contending groups and its internal dynamics are rife with factionalism. However, the party holds together for a number of reasons. The most important of these in this particular poll may be that the party's presidential candidate Mahama is considered a compromise candidate. He is a charismatic and unassuming personality who most Ghanaians warm up to. Continuing the same line of thought, Mahama is a northerner — the North is predominantly Muslim — yet he is a Christian who hails from a Muslim familial background. This is considered a political plus, an advantage in a country unique in West Africa that is not necessarily divided along marked religious lines. The Ashanti and Eastern regions have traditionally formed the NPP strongholds. The two regions, that are among the most populous in Ghana, have systematically voted NPP since the multi-party political system was introduced. The peripheral regions in northern Ghana and the Volta region have voted NDC. The swing regions are Brong Ahafo, Western, Central and the capital Greater Accra. THE AKAN MALAISE: Work to create consensus on this particular problem should not be deflected by other squabbles. The Akan people are Ghana's most important ethnic group, numerically and in terms of standards of living. Ashanti, home to the largest Akan group, has a population of 4.8 million. Ashanti is the region that has the largest number of registered voters in Ghana — 2,557,261. And, Ashanti has the largest number of constituencies — 47. It also possesses Ghana's richest gold deposits. After many years of turning a blind eye to the tribal factor, Ghanaian politicians are at last cracking down on this potentially explosive quandary. Once again, Ashanti and eastern regions, the Akan Heartlands, voted overwhelmingly for the opposition NPP, and predictably, the peripheral regions voted more or less in favour of the ruling NDC. This year and the next, Ghana's economic growth is expected to slow down a little. Of course, the crisis in Europe and North America has not helped. Yet, the country is confident enough to sustain impressive growth rates and the electorate understands that truism. The president-elect's personal style is well-suited to this culture of mutual ethnic suspicions. His critics and detractors alike speculate that he keeps his own views on this prickly subject opaque. The NPP, in sharp contrast, paid the price because it is widely viewed, rightly or wrongly, as an Akan chauvinist party. “For all their [NPP] intellectual bigotry, they don't know the law. They don't have any democratic credentials. They are bad losers. They are terrorists that could plunge the country into civil war,” Director of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Presidency Tony Aidoo lamented. ECONOMIC BOOM: Confidence in the economy, nevertheless, is reflected in how the Ghanaian electorate conducts itself. “Ghanaians have in the last five years of general elections conducted themselves professionally and this time round I am very confident that they will conduct themselves even better than the precious years in question,” Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama noted on the eve of the 7 December Ghana presidential and parliamentary polls. On its own, this would not be a matter of great concern, except that Ghanaian public life in recent years has been characterised by the preeminence of only a handful of obliquely unaccountable worthies. They fund the political parties, they manipulate their position in government to further advance their personal business interests and they even deploy the so-called “macho men” or restless, penniless, unemployed youth to do their dirty business when the need arises. These are not auspicious signs and indeed they augur ill. Ghana's Chief Justice Georgina Wood set up a complaints secretariat for post-election petitions. The opposition cried foul and several constituencies remain disputed. “These results cannot be forced down the throat of the people of Ghana,” complained NPP Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey. In Ghana there is a harking back to the old days of Kwame Nkrumah. Expectations are high and the NDC appears to be the party most likely to deliver the goodies Ghanaians anticipate. Ghana, not yet as rich as Nigeria, feels the need to forge ahead. The policy response to this particular issue of growing anticipation in a brighter economic future and more prosperous economy will go a long way in determining Ghana's economic course for the next generation. Ghanaians abroad send fewer remittances than they used to do in the past. Some émigré Ghanaians are returning home. However, they are not expected to drastically change voting patterns. Ghanaians have staked the credibility of their nation on political stability and economic prosperity. TWO PARTY PRECURSOR: A good scapegoat is a bonus that any winning political party cannot afford to waste. There are many vexing questions about why and how the NPP lost. Obviously, many Ghanaians assert that the ruling NDC was the least bad of the available options. The opposition, however, suspect foul play. Far from sounding the death knell for the NPP, Ghana seems destined for a two-party system. The smaller parties performed despicably — mostly because they lacked the funds to compete with the two major parties — the NDC and the NPP. It might be tempting to conclude that whoever won was either irrelevant or quick-witted. But that was not the case. “The results of the 2012 presidential election were as follows: John Dramani Mahama, NDC: 5,574,761 votes representing 50.7 per cent of the total valid votes cast, and Nana Akufo-Addo, NPP: 5,248,898 representing 47.74 per cent of the total valid votes cast,” Electoral Chairman Kwaduo Afari-Gyan declared. These figures were fairly predictable. “I want to thank Ghanaians for the confidence reposed in me,” proclaimed a jubilant President Mahama. THE DEALMAKERS? A grand plan for the Ghanaian future is underway. There is no place for tribalism in this new Ghana. Mahama knows better. His arch-rival Nana Akufo-Addo increasingly turned to nationalism, or to be more accurate, Akan chauvinism to bolster his waning popularity, but it backfired. It must be allowed to stay that way. If Ghana is concerned about how to spread wealth more evenly, then no politician or political party must be permitted to play the tribal card. The trump card is good governance. President Mahama sees little to apologise for in Ghana's history. The record of the country's progress is impressive as a beacon of political stability on the African continent. It is time to seize the opportunities, and the president-elect understands the dynamics in the decade ahead. The integrated model of the Ghanaian political system has been bruised and battered and there must be no repeat of the mistakes of the past. Ghana must wean itself off dependence on the export of primary raw materials. With the discovery of commercial quantities of oil and natural gas in 2010, Ghana is to some extent treading a path that Nigeria has already followed. Trouble may flare again. There are two reasons why this is potentially so. The first reason is that it is not so simple. Ghana must diversify its economy in order to remain an oasis of prosperity on the continent. The second is equally complex. Ghana's neighbours might pose an indirect threat if they continue to be politically unstable. Ghana can do little about this particular predicament. How could it be otherwise? Still, there is hope. There are good reasons to suspect that this may not be the case. The economies of Ivory Coast and Nigeria — oil-rich southern Nigeria in particular — are booming. The wars that are strangling West Africa's economic life must be brought to an end. Ghana is coordinating with Nigeria, and the two most powerful economic powerhouses of the region should bring permanent and lasting peace in the region. Let bygones be bygones. But, back to Ghana. The NPP arguments for electoral fraud are not invalid, but they are weak. Opposition leader Nana Akuffo-Addo's outburst may suit President Mahama's agenda. “I am humbled by this decision of the Ghanaian people. Let us respect the will of the people,” Mahama pleaded. The election result is hardly a disaster for the NPP at any rate. The surreal dynamic ended with an undisputed NDC success. While there is an argument for forbearance as far as the opposition is concerned, there is no need whatsoever for ethnic strife. This is the last thing that Ghana needs. But this is a world away from simply fudging losses of the NPP and other smaller and less influential parties. “The government has done its part in providing the necessary logistics and I expect all other stakeholders to perform their roles professionally to once again place our dear country above her peers in the political landscape,” Mahama extrapolated on the eve of the election. Ghana, a resource-rich West African nation, with 25 million people, has seen five peaceful transfers of power since 1981, the year that witnessed the country's last military coup. Ghana is the world's second largest cocoa producer after neighbouring Ivory Coast. Ghana is also the second largest gold producer in Africa after South Africa. The country is rich in timber, diamonds, and more recently in oil and natural gas that has transformed the Ghanaian economy. It has one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and the world with an economic growth rate of 14 per cent in 2011. Commercial oil production began in 2010. “The president's plan is nothing more than a blatant attempt to distort public perception on the very eve of the election,” Chairman of the NPP Jake Obetsebi Lamptey asserted in a letter to Chairman of the National Media Commission Kwadwu Afari-Gyan. “We cite as an example the fact that former president John Kufour, when seeking re-election, knew all too well that such action would have amounted to a blatant abuse of incumbency,” the NPP chairman explained. On its own, this would be a matter of great concern. For this reason, the world's faith in the potential of the Ghanaian economy is pivotal. Investors from the Arab Gulf and from Latin America are heading towards Ghana and other West African nations. Brazil and Venezuela are leading the way, and Asian nations too — China, Korea, Japan and India — are reaching out to West Africa. These are not the neocolonial Western powers of the past. BIOMETRIC BAFFLEMENT: In the run up to the elections the issue of the biometric voting procedures caused considerable confusion. The biometric system was supposed to ensure that the possibility of election fraud was minimised. The disfranchisement of voters because of the breakdown of the biometric installations the Electoral Commission (EC) assured Ghanaians that the new biometric system was beneficial. The EC denied claims that it had entered a deal with an Israeli hi-tech company STL to aid its electronic transmission of results. Breakdowns in the biometric voting system meant that many Ghanaian voters were unable to cast their votes. Power cuts and blackouts compounded the problem. Trade and Industry Minister Hannah Tetteh for instance denied rumours that she had lost the Awutu Senya constituency elections to the NPP candidate citing the biometric mix-up as the reason for the scuttlebutt. “My constituency has 99 polling stations, and yesterday 22 biometric verification machines broke down during voting,” Tetteh posted on Facebook last Saturday. Be that as it may, a bonfire of biometric conflagrations would smoulder rather than blaze Ghana's exceedingly impressive democratic credentials.
