from RUSSELL ADADEVOH in Accra, Ghana
Ghana Bureau
ACCRA, (CAJ News) – GHANA’S just-concluded election has marked a spectacular comeback for former president, John Dramani Mahama, and the outcome is the latest in a series of ruling parties being booted out of office recently.
This result is an indication of Ghanaians frustration over the management of the economy by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of outgoing president, Nana Akufo-Addo, and brings to an end its eight-year grip on power.
Mahama (66), of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, defeated his closest rival, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, to the presidency, in a field of 13 candidates.
While official results for the Saturday election were not released, the process is now merely a formality after Bawumia conceded defeat in an address to party supporters.
Such a move paves way for hassle-free transfer of power, a development analysts say enhances democracy in an iconic country that is one of the most stable in Africa.
Unlike recent elections in the continent, Ghana’s poll was free of controversy.
“The people of Ghana have spoken,” Bawumia said of the expected outcome.
“We must respect their decision,” he said of the electorate.
“I’m making this concession speech before the announcement by the electoral commission to avoid further tension and preserve the peace of our country.”
Bawumia has congratulated Mahama, who bounces back after serving one term before his defeat by Akufo-Addo in 2016.
“I have, this (Sunday) morning, received a congratulatory call from my brother Dr Bawumia, following my emphatic victory in Saturday’s election,” the president-elect said.
The election outcome has reverberated across Africa, where some ruling parties have lost power this year, and more forecast to lose their grip in upcoming elections.
The Ghana King Telegram tap-to-vote app polled Mahama ahead with 53 percent of the vote to Bawumia’s 28 percent.
In Mozambique, the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) is clinging on to power exactly two months after disputed elections.
Academician, Prof. Adriano Nuvunga, said, “A peaceful transition of power, led by humility and respect for the will of the people, is a victory for all Ghanaians.”
Polls in Ghana have been competitive, but the economy has not been.
The anticipated poll outcome is seen as a reflection of the citizens’ disgruntlement with the state of affairs in the West African country of 36 million people, 18 million of them (55 percent youth) registered to vote.
Akufo-Addo exits office with the fore Gold Coast in an economic quagmire.
It is reeling under the impact of COVID-19, Russo-Ukrainian conflict and years of excessive borrowing.
Amid rising debt, the Cedi currency has significantly lost value and inflation breached 50 percent.
Citizens, mostly youth, are bearing the brunt.
This has been the prevailing sentiment across Africa, where ruling parties in Botswana and Mauritius have been voted out of office this year.
In South Africa, the governing African National Congress (ANC) party lost its majority and was forced into an uneasy coalition government.
In those elections, the said parties have conceded to the outcome. In Mozambique and Namibia, ruling parties are accused of vote rigging to retain power.
– CAJ News