The election of Akufo-Addo as president; the will of God or the wish of the people

Virtually a month ago, Ghanaians went to the polls in fulfillment of a quadrennial ritual of deciding who should steer the affairs of the nation for yet another quadrennium. Prior to the poll, every accessible part of the country was full of party colours and/or paraphernalia especially of the two major political parties. The media was inundated with party adverts, campaigns, debates and heated arguments from all the competing parties particularly the two main rivals (the ruling NDC and the main opposition NPP).

Gross display of opulence and abuse of incumbency has been the order of the day in the campaign of any ruling party in Ghana. In fact, the NDC even intensified it with impunity to their disadvantage by antagonizing the electorates. This should serve as a big lesson to both the NDC and the NPP. What baffled me was the repetition of this action by the NDC. They tried in 2000 and paid dearly for it and so was the NPP in 2008.

Even though, several parties and one independent candidate contested the presidential elections, it was undoubtedly clear that the contest was between the President John Mahama of the NDC and that of Nana Addo of the NPP. Both candidates and parties were under intense pressure to win the elections at all costs for obvious reasons. This made the campaign trail so intense, anxious, costly and acrimonious.

While the opposition NPP took advantage of the untold hardship in the country due to high unemployment rate, naked corruption, massive loss of jobs, closure of industries due intermittent power outages (Dum-sor dum-sor), blatant disregard for the cry of teachers and other workers among others and were on a promising parade, the NDC focused on their ‘green book’ and the ‘huge’ infrastructure ‘dole out’. What made the case of the NDC worst were the timing of their “accounting to the people tour and the manner in which they showcased their projects”, the impudence of government appointees, the incessant drumming of the so called disunity in the NPP into the ears of the electorates and the too much concentration on damaging the reputation of the opposition leader Nana Addo.

What occasioned the anxiety and criticalness of the election was the fact that there would be grave sorrowful introspection and repercussive consequences on the loser of the poll. Before the election, it was apparent that John Mahama would be the first sitting president of the republic of Ghana in the fourth republic to rule for only one term should he lose the election. In other words, He would be the first sitting president of Ghana to lose general election should the pendulum not swing in his favour. In a similar vein, Nana Addo of the NPP would be the first thrice defeated candidate of the party and being a septuagenarian that would most likely mark the end of his several decades of active politics. The above scenario lends credence to the cruciality of the election.

Then came the long awaited date of December 7 when the peace loving Ghanaians went to the polls. Few hours after 5pm, the amazing choices of the electorates started trickling in. Eight hours after the election, the opposition had already collated more than 70% of the total votes cast and this was vivid and decisive enough to assure them of a landslide victory. The remaining results were immaterial enough to turnaround the outcome of the poll to deny them access to occupancy at the flagstaff house. While all these were happening within the first twelve hours after the election, the ruling NDC with all their might knew they were crashed out of the contest beyond repairable levels but managed to organize press conferences to counter what the opposition NPP was saying. In fact, they managed to put gullible party faithfuls in a comfortable zone by deceiving them that they were in a “comfortable lead” and therefore “cruising to victory”.

At long last, the much awaited constitutionally mandated returning officer of the presidential election, chair of the electoral commission, Charlotte Osei , appeared 52 hours after the election to validate the NPP’s resounding victory wildly known to almost every Ghanaian ahead of declaration. This was after Nana Addo received congratulatory messages and calls from all the competing candidates including President John Mahama.

Immediately after the declaration followed wild nationwide jubilation and heightened expectations. Owing to the “tasty” promises of the NPP coupled with complete loss of hope in the ruling NDC by the electorates, the heightened expectation is not surprising at all. The over one million vote margin of defeat of the NDC is a very clear indication that the wish of the “masses” has come to fruition. This should sound a serious warning to the incoming Nana Addo-led NPP government that the electorates and for that matter Ghanaians are not just any group of people to toy with.

It is obvious that the opposition to be from the NDC side and doom mongers have already prepared their propaganda machinery against the yet to be sworn in government of the NPP. This is evident in their constant daily reminder to the NPP of their promises. The doom mongers are also anxiously waiting to see the NPP government fail to deliver to satisfy their diabolical minds. What has even calm nerves down is Nana Addo’s reiteration of his intent to fulfill all the promises in the NPP manifesto during his “thank you tour”.

Whatever the case may be, the people have decided already. It is said that the will of the people is the will of God. As Ghanaians, the only country we have is Ghana and therefore wishing any government bad is tantamount to wishing oneself bad. Let us put aside all our biases and help the government to move Ghana to the next level. We can do this by eschewing laziness, abhorring corrupt practices, criticizing the government constructively, exposing shady deals, living exemplary lifestyles, be bold enough to take the bull by the horns, discharging our mandate/duties creditably without fear or favour, work within the confines of the revered constitution and let the consciousness of the creator, God/Allah be with us in all our endeavours . After all, if anyone has issues with the manner in which any government runs the affairs of the country, four years is not too long to wait for us to exercise our inalienable right of choosing who to lead us. We have just exercised it and by the grace of God we will still exercise it over and over because it is now apparent that Ghana is no longer interested in military rule considering the extent to which we have consolidated our democracy for the past 24 years.

Let me conclude by commending Ghanaians once again for going to the polls successfully without any bloodshed. It depicts our level of maturity in democracy and projects the image of Ghana in the eyes of the global community. That is an enviable record and precedence set for emerging democracies. May we continue to thrive and be a shining example. Thank you.

Nantomah Mustapha Mathematics Teacher (Bimbilla SHS) (0248798474/0204456564)