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Ghana�s two biggest political parties have rarely agreed on anything, especially on dates for special political events. This time however, a mysterious consensus has happened as the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) simultaneously chose August 25, 2012 as the magic date for launching their political campaigns. However, through divine intervention, NDC had to pick a new date because its flagbearer, John Evans Atta Mills, had to give way to John Mahama, his vice, following his untimely death. The NDC will have its day next weekend when it converges on Kumasi for the endorsement of President Mahama as well as campaign and manifesto launch. The manifesto launch would give Ghanaians the opportunity to peek into its manifestos, whose content was hitherto a closely guarded secret. Apparently, the political parties are anticipating an intense political campaign. Political scientists are certain that this time, issues rather than personalities would be critiqued by electorate. The smaller parties, the Progressive People�s Party (PPP), the Convention People�s Party (CPP), the People�s National Convention (PNC) and a host of other political parties and independent candidates are aware of this and are also dusting up plans to officially outdoor their campaigns along this line. When the Electoral Commission finally opens nominations in September, the pace of political activities in Ghana is set to hit a crescendo. Clearly, a lot is at stake in the December 7, 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections and political parties are leaving no stone unturned. According to renowned security analyst, and Director of Research at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre (KAIPTC), Dr Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, the stakes are high for this year�s elections because whoever wins the election this time will be in control of Ghana�s oil wealth when it peaks in 2013. Ghana will be producing over 120,000 barrels of crude oil a day by 2013, Tullow oil predicts. With additional oil wealth to complement the traditional sources of foreign exchange earnings for Ghana, the reigning political party would be at the right place at the right time to transform the Ghanaian economy to the desired levels, notes economist Todd Moss, vice president of US-based Centre for Global Development. The Ghanaian economy is currently believed to be at the cusp of drastic economic transformation and all the political parties know this. To get to that privileged position however, the political party that will hold that mantle will have to earn the mandate from the Ghanaian electorate who critically dissect the policy propositions of contending parties in the December Polls. Sometimes, in their quest to outwit their opponents in selling themselves, the parties have been caught straying into each other�s domains. A classic instance is when the NPP accused the ruling NDC of stealing its manifesto theme, �You Matter, People Matter�. You Matter, People Matter Mid August 2012, officials of the NDC and NPP were at each other�s throat on the ownership of the catchy theme. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, a staunch campaigner for the NDC and the deputy Local Government Minister in the NDC government, was the first to use the slogan at a public gathering. The NPP was obviously surprised by what it described as a brazen plagiarism of its manifesto theme, suspecting a leak from its rank. The NPP went to town to contest the ownership of the slogan. The NDC would not budge though, causing the flagbearer of the party, Nana Addo, to taunt the NDC of copying. On August 17, 2012, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah engaged Yoofi Grant, the manifesto coordinator of the NPP in a heated argument on radio about the ownership of the theme. Elvis fired the first salvo in his bid to justify the slogan, stating that it was abnormal for a Capitalist-oriented political party like the NPP to carve a people-centred slogan like that, forgetting that it was NPP which introduced pro-poor programmes like health insurance, mass transit transport system, youth employment, capitation grant for basic schools, school feeding for pupils among others. Yoofi Grant argued that the slogan came from the NPP�s flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who apparently adopted that slogan following his house-to-house campaign across the country. Essentially, Nana Addo must have come to that conclusion from collating varied views from the ordinary people he interacted with on the tour. �We have a problem with the copy-cat [of the NDC],� says Samuel Awuku, a deputy Communications Director of the NPP, who cites several instances where the NDC has �blatantly� copied initiatives of the NPP. The tussle for the slogan was so pervasive that governance institute the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) decided to step in to investigate and identify the usurper in this slogan feud. �Political parties in the course of campaigning avoid plagiarizing the symbols, slogans of other parties or candidates. Clearly, if you look at this provision, one of them may be running afoul of this particular provision, and it is unacceptable,� Ransford Gyampoh, a researcher at the IEA, was quoted. Nevertheless, the NPP has decided to change its manifesto theme to avoid complications. In a statement recently issued by the campaign manager of the NPP, Boakye Agyarko, he stated emphatically that the NPP would not fight over the slogan anymore. �NPP is not interested in fighting over ownership of a slogan. They are free to appropriate �People matter, You Matter� as their campaign slogan in 2012,� said Mr Agyarko. It is a curious position that the NDC finds itself, as it is not clear which of the campaign slogans the NDC will want to use to spearhead its campaign because it also has the �Better Ghana� slogan which appears to be a mere sloganeering than action. The NPP campaign chairman provides an explanation; �The New Patriotic Party is glad to hear that the National Democratic Congress has finally come to the realisation that their �Better Ghana� and �Still a Better Ghana� slogans have to be abandoned because they have failed in delivering a better Ghana for the Ghanaian people.� �Their decision to �borrow� our manifesto theme as their campaign slogan is an embarrassing testimony of a government that is lacking in ideas, ingenuity and imagination. It shows a government at its wits end even in matters as simple as the choice of a slogan,� he adds. The accusations of plagiarizing slogans are indeed just a tip of the iceberg because all sorts of accusations are flying around. Recently, the PPP also accused the NPP of pinching some of its policies including the free education programme that the NPP has positioned as it top priority programme if voted into power in December. Hitting The Road By September, all the confirmed political parties will hit the campaign road and will be mainly concerned with selling their message to the electorate. The dynamics have changed this time, says political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Kwasi Jonah. Mr Jonah observes that the general tone of politicians will be more civil this time, particularly because of the jolt received by many people following the untimely demise of President Evans Atta Mills whose personality has been at the receiving end of intense personal criticisms. Initially, derogatory verbal and attacks of political opponents were the main catalyst of the messages put out by politicians. However, Jonah says electorate who have been sobered by the tragic death of President Mills will severely punish any political party reveling in politics of insult. �Politics should be about the contest of ideas, rather than discussing the personalities,� says Dela Edem, a member of the ruling NDC�s communication team In the foregoing, politicians appear to have unanimously agreed to do more discussions of issues rather than of personalities. According to Samuel Awuku, the NPP�s campaign focus will be to sell the message of restoring both economic and social hope in Ghanaians. Essentially, the NPP campaign is set on three prongs; to reflect on what went wrong when the NPP lost power to the NDC in 2008; to rebuild structure of the party and restore confidence for the NPP in the minds of electorate and to recapture power from the NDC in 2012. The NPP flagbearer has been on the road for almost two years now, crisscrossing the country in his house-to-house campaign which he tags as a listening and campaign of restoring hope. According to Mr. Awuku, the lessons learnt from this campaign are what the NPP has used to carve a comprehensive party manifesto for a potential NPP government. At the very top of the agenda for NPP is a policy to make basic education absolutely free. The NDC on the other hand will be emphasizing on its achievements since it assumed power four years ago. The NDC will focus on the various infrastructural projects that it has embarked upon, particularly roads and school projects, notes Dela Edem. Also, the NDC has embarked on a number of social interventions including providing free school uniforms to pupils. The highly praised unified salary structure-Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), that saw significant boost in the pay of public workers was implemented during the tenure of the NDC, even though the structure for the pay system was devised by the NPP. The campaign plans of the CPP and the PNC are not immediately known yet as they have remained relatively quiet about their campaign plans. They have not even selected running mates for their flagbearer. Selecting a running mate is an important prerequisite to indicate the preparedness of a party in an impending general election in Ghana. New entrants, the PPP and the National Democratic Party (NDP) an offshoot of the ruling NDC, despite their newness, appear to be more aggressively poised than their older contemporaries (CPP and PNC) because they have been spotted making frantic preparations towards the December polls. Both the NDP and the PPP have branded several vehicles, ready to roll them out into the hinterlands for campaign. Already, the NDP is airing radio jingles, while the PPP candidate is campaigning massively in towns and villages. The Strategy Indeed, a recent research done by the research group Synovate places the PPP at very comfortable electoral margins in the forthcoming polls. Synovate�s most current analysis of the December 2012 polls put the PPP at about 8 percent share of total votes cast. The figures from other research groups on PPP and other smaller parties vary though. Clearly, the huge media presence of the PPP is helping to significantly buoy it in the minds of electorate. Recent statistics show that in terms of media presence, the PPP comes closely after the two big boys-NPP and NDC. Dr. Paa Kwasi Nduom, the flagbearer of the PPP, is brimming with confidence, but critics dismiss this as just a misplaced self-assurance because the NDC and NPP are sure to be the top runners judging from what Nduom had in 2008 when he ran on the CPP ticket. All the political parties are bound to deploy the traditional campaign strategies; however, a new trend is emerging. Many of the parties are aggressively harnessing the power of social media to champion their cause. On August 26, 2012, the NPP will officially launch its e-campaign platform where it will be banking on the power of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. There are semblances of this direction for the other parties too. Beyond the platform comes the rhetoric of campaign- the PPP is positioning its candidate as an incorruptible and decisive leader. The NPP and the other political parties are doing same. Meanwhile, the NDC is positioning its own candidate as a young, decisive and creative leader. However, the NPP believes that it not about age but somebody who can do the job. According to Kwesi Jonah, as much as politicians will be tempted to put a spotlight on the personalities of flagbearers, political parties will reap much more dividend by placing emphasis on issues and plans proposed by their opponents.