Students of the University of Ghana, Legon have made up their minds about the up-coming December 7th Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
When over 50 of them were asked who they would vote for if the elections were held tomorrow, the majority of their votes went to J.A. Kufuor, the NPP candidate. Most of these level 300 and 400 students want to see a positive change in governance and they think Kufour can deliver.
"Ghana desperately needs a change, any change at all and Kufour seems to be the ideal one for that!" commented one student. The second most common reason for the students choosing Kufour is because they feel he will improve the economy.
"I feel strongly that after a long stay in power by the N.D.C. government, it is clear evidence that they are short of ideas and as a matter of necessity they have to hand the power to someone else to inject new ideas and policies for better economic policies so as to improve the living standards of the masses," said one political science student.
One professor at Legon is also in support of J.A. Kufuor. "The country needs to see a power alternation," he commented. Change and economic issues are the main issues to students who will be voting for Kufuor.
The next candidate who received the most votes was current vice-president, John Evans Atta Mills whose tract record according to them merits their choice for him.
"By his performance in office as vice president over the past three years, he has proven to be hard working, dedicated and peace loving and can thus rule the country justly when given the mandate," said one student.
Another student wants to see the programmes started by the N.D.C. to be continued with Mills as president.
Lartey and Dr. Edward Mahama tied with five votes each. The students in favour of Lartey approve of his policy on domesticating the economy. One student who will be voting for Mahama says, "I simply want a change in the system so as to bring flexibility and economic development in all aspects or sectors of the system."
Tanoh received four votes and Hagan and Brobby received one vote each. One student said he will not vote because he has no trust in any of the candidates adding that they are only interested in their "selfish interests".
The majority of those students who are undecided as to who to vote for say that none of the candidates have "impressed" or "convinced" them for their vote.
Conclusively, Kufuor is most popular among these students. The majority of the students have been keeping abreast of the issues and the candidate's stance on them and they know where they want to see change. December 7th will be the day of reckoning. Let's all hope that who ever wins, wins by a large margin so there will be no confusion or re-counts as we are seeing take place in the US.
