Election 2020 not a done deal for any political party - Prof Gyampo

Director of the Centre for European Studies of the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Edward Gyampo has rubbished the perception of many people that the 2020 general election will be easy and over with for a particular political party.

According to the Associate Professor of Political Science, the December 7, 2020 polls is going to be keenly competitive for both the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Speaking in an interview with Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show host, Kwame Nkrumah Tikese, he indicated that all the elections in the country since 1992 have been uniquely and keenly contested due to circumstances that characterised them.

“The upcoming election is going to be keenly competitive; there are so many reasons why this election will be keenly competitive. The 2020 general election is not a done-deal for any political party. In Ghana since 1992, I don’t know what it is about our election but every election is unique and keenly competitive. We have never had any election that we can say it has happened before; every election is keenly competitive and also unique in its own sense”, he said.

Buttressing his claim about the 2020 general election, Prof Gyampo alluded to the fact that the two main contenders, being President Nana Akufo-Addo and former President John Mahama have a sense of unfinished agenda to accomplish.

“President Akufo-Addo knows that every President gets two terms and it is becoming institutionalised and as he has one term, he is not done yet. John Mahama technically also did one term in office and he had key projects that he did not finish their implementations before he lost power to President Nana Akufo-Addo”.

He stressed that a defeat in the 2020 general election to any of them will mean the end of their political career; thus, he is certain that the NDC would not want to maintain Candidate John Mahama should he fail to win the 2020 general election and in the same vein, President Akufo-Addo would not want to come back to contest for the 2024 election if he is not successfully retained.

“I am sure President Nana Akufo-Addo is not fully done with the Free SHS Policy which is his signature project and must be properly institutionalised. With the two of them, a defeat will mean the end of their political career. If Mahama loses the 2020 general election, I am not sure that the NDC will want to bring him again for the next election and if President Akufo-Addo loses as well, I am not sure that he would want to come back after 2024 to contest again. There are so many things that make 2020 election keenly competitive”, he asserted.

He again intimated that the main opposition NDC may want to capitalise on the fact that the ruling NPP government has not been able to fulfil all their promises, giving the opposition the chance with little effort to push their way into power. The ruling NPP Government would also want to retain power in order to complete their promises.

“The NDC feels that maybe the NPP has not been able to fulfil all of their promises to Ghanaians and so with a little effort, the NDC feel that they can win the election and the NPP also feel that they have to force to retain power in order to complete their promises”, he stated.

“While the NDC is making all effort to win the upcoming election, the ruling NPP is putting their entire arsenal on board to retain power and so the election is going to be keenly competitive”, he stressed.

He however bemoaned the rationale behind the launching of Prof Ahwoi’s “Working With Rawlings” book at this crucial moment when the NDC needs a united front to fight a common course as the book is serving as distractive tool for their campaign.