After a keenly contested general election, the Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, on Friday declared Nana Akufo-Addo as President-elect, making him the fifth president of Ghana\u2019s fourth republic. The NPP Flagbearer secured the Presidency at the third time of asking beating the incumbent, President John Mahama with 53.85 percent of valid votes cast. Nana Addo’s victory has been met with wild celebration from NPP supporters but disappointed NDC members are still reeling from the unbelievable loss.Many have since attributed the NDC’s defeat to various reasons but I’d like to highlight just three out of the many factors.<\/p>\n
Corruption<\/strong><\/p>\n The main factor that marred the Mahama led administration was the glaring uncontrolled cancerous corruption. The 3.6 million bus branding scandal , the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) saga, the Woyome case, the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA) saga were all clear cases of corruption. Let us also not forget that Mahama awarded the dredging of the Odaw river to his brother, Ibrahim Mahama.The sheer failure to prosecute corrupt state officials and retrieve monies unlawfully lost to the state through these corrupt deals all contributed to the party\u2019s defeat. Ghanaians expected President Mahama to take a \u00a0bold step to prosecute corrupt officials implicated in these scandals but he woefully failed in guarding the public purse.All we heard about the recent bus branding scandal was an order to retrieve the money, there was no prosecution. Mahama presided over a corrupt regime and allowed thieves to steal and eat while he silently observed.<\/p>\n Infrastructure amidst economic challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n President Mahama initiated a number of infrastructural projects in various regions including the Kotokoraba market, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle interchange, the Eastern Corridor road project, Rattray Park, Kasoa Interchange among others. But first of all, why were these projects coming up a year or two to the election? And while government was spending so much time making these interventions, did it bother to take measures to handle the Huge Public Debt (USD 13.9 billion) and slow economy which has had far reaching ripple effects such as unemployment, inflation, slow development?Was infrastructure more necessary than tackling these economic challenges?<\/p>\n Ignoring the Volta threat<\/strong><\/p>\n The NDC clearly downplayed threats by residents in the Volta Region[the party’s world bank] to vote against the party. Taking the people of the world bank for granted cost them the numbers.Ahead of the elections, some residents and chiefs in the region had threatened to vote against the Mahama led administration for failing to fix the deplorable roads. The threats came days after residents in the region had embarked on a demonstration to express their grievance against government .It is interesting to note that in 2012, Mahama generally had 734,641 representing 85.47 while Nana Addo had 111,149 representing 12.93% in Volta Region. In 2016 however, the voter turn out was quite poor to even attract the huge numbers Mahama needed to push him to victory. The increased general feeling of dissatisfaction with the NDC cannot be over emphasized. The fact that some known traditional NDC zones chose to elect MPs on NPP is a clear indication that the party (NDC) was losing the grip.<\/p>\n Ghanaians chose the NPP with the expectation of fulfilling promises made on the campaign trail.I am convinced these promises were not made in a desperate attempt to win the hearts of the electorates. The NPP should live up to expectation.<\/p>\n –
\nBy: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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