Can NPP win in 2004?

The goodwill of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has not evaporated completely in spite of the economic hardship still starring many Ghanaians in the face.

Many Ghanaians appear ready to make excuses for the failure of the Kufuor administration to keep its election promise, according to the Insight .

The main excuse for the inability of the party to do what it has promised the people of Ghana is that the administration is still young and that it inherited huge internal and external debts.

So far, the government has not been able to abolish the dreaded cash and carry system and as promised replace it with a health insurance scheme.

In his sessional address to Parliament, President Kufuor announced the establishment of a committee to work out the details of a Health Insurance Scheme to replace the old system and pleaded for time.

Critics say the abolition of the old system has taken too long and point out that a health insurance scheme run for profit may not be too different from the cash and carry.

There has not been much movement on job creation, which was the party’s key campaign issue. “Apologists for the government say that the President’s cassava initiative and its intention to take full advantage of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) will eventually open the job market to the large army of the unemployed.

The registration of the unemployed is not much comfort for the unemployed who are unable to feed themselves and access social services.

“In the 15 months of Kufuor’s rule, utility tariffs have gone up by more than 100 per cent and they are expected to shoot up even higher in the months ahead. The price of petroleum products has also gone up by about 67 per cent and there are indications that they will rise again by between 20 and 30 per cent.

The combined effects of these is that prices of all goods and services have shot up significantly at a time when wage levels have not gone up to any appreciable levels.

Against this background, it is expected that the goodwill being enjoyed by the Kufuor administration will plunge in the coming months. The problem however is that whiles the NPP appears to losing popularity no other party is gaining popularity.

If this trend continues, the NPP is likely to retain power on condition that it wins a first round victory.

This is because if the presidential election is forced into a second round, parties of the Nkrumaist line are not likely to throw their weight behind the NPP.

The other threat to an NPP victory is the emergence of the New Convention People’s Party (NCPP), a merger of the CPP and the National Reform Party (NRP).