All Roads Lead to Legon

The frontage of the University of Ghana, Legon, has taken on a fairground atmosphere.

In preparation towards the NPP national delegates' congress on December 22, all the presidential aspirants have descended on the place with their posters, billboards, hoardings, banners and just about anything that would attract the attention of the delegates and the public.

What had initially looked like an Alan Kyeremanten and Nana Akufo-Addo preserve, all of a sudden has coughed up new champions.

Mr. Alan Kyeremanten and Nana Akufu-Addo had huge brooding, or smirking images of their faces all over town, but what is now on offer at Legon pales those into second place.

The digital printing industry in Ghana has certainly come of age with all those huge formats on display and no doubt the printing companies are laughing their way to huge bank accounts.

Another winner in this forest of presidential faces is the University of Ghana itself, where the congress is taking place. Available information indicates that apart from the fees the NPP is paying for the Great Hall where the balloting would take place, the forecourt of the university would also attract separate fees.

In addition to that, all the aspirants would pay for the space taken to display their campaign billboards and pay additional fees for clean up. A source close to the university administration told ADM that the university could rake in close to one billion old Ghana cedis, which the source said could go into renovating at least a few buildings.

But even the placement of the billboards is already creating tension with some of the aspirants complaining that they are being squeezed out by bigger players. Whatever the outcome of the congress, a record would be set, which will change forever the politics of Ghana: huge campaign spending.