<<Print>>

As the political parties prepare for the November 7 presidential and parliamentary elections, will it be a straight contest between the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or a coalition agenda will emerge among the Nkrumaist forces?

This is the question on the lips of some political observers.

Although the Electoral Commission (EC) is yet to officially open nominations, as well as fix the period for formal campaigning to take place, the NDC and the NPP in particular appear to have jumped the gun and started subtle campaign moves.
While the NDC’s presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, is accounting to the people on a country-wide tour, the NPP’s Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has launched a fundraising campaign for Agenda 2016. 

The Donate-for-Change Campaign is aimed at soliciting enough funds to support the party’s campaign to be launched ahead of the elections in November.

Vice-President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur described this year’s polls as a test of leadership when he launched the Young Professionals, a group of young men and women devoted to helping Mahama to get another four-year mandate.

He asked the young professionals: “Are we selecting a leader who is able to keep his house in order? Are we selecting a leader who is bringing confusion within his party? Are we selecting a leader who has vision for his people?”

Alternatively, Nana Akufo-Addo is highlighting what he calls the incompetence of the NDC administration. 

“Ghana today is in crisis. Agriculture, once upon a time the bedrock of our development, is a pale shadow of its former self. Manufacturing is at a very low ebb. Corruption is at its height. Our economy is in tatters. Inflation is high. Taxes are rising. Businesses, both big and small, are struggling, and millions of young men and women are without work,” he stated at the launch of the fundraising campaign for a change of government through the ballot box.

NDC, NPP debate

The NDC and the NPP are also engaged in a debate over which of them has done more for the people in terms of development projects. And already there is a turf war between the two parties in the Volta Region.

Many political pundits have expressed the hope that the debate over infrastructural development and basic needs such as water, electricity, housing, jobs, among other issues, will not end in the Volta Region but carried to all the remaining regions.

While the NDC is campaigning on changing lives and transforming the nation, the NPP is calling for a change to move Ghana forward.

The People’s National Convention (PNC) has a campaign message of a new beginning, a new deal and a new force.

The Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) is still using the popular message of domestication of the economy.

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) is campaigning on greening Ghana, while the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) will campaign on the theme of incorruptible leadership.

The debate, it is expected, must stay factual and decorous and in so doing avoid peddling falsehood and outright insults and undermining verifiable records.

Coalition agenda

Meanwhile, in the run-up to this year’s polls, an issue within the political arena is how prepared the other political parties are. 

While some political parties and independent political thinkers are tossing around a coalition idea, particularly at the presidential level, for the 2016 general election, others strongly believe that a third force agenda is necessary to give the NDC and the NPP a good run for their money. 

The PNC and the CPP are in never-ending talks for a united Nkrumaist front. The leadership of the two parties has pledged commitment to the unity talks, but as to when it will be actualised is left to conjecture.

For several weeks now, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, the Founder of the PPP, has been promoting the building of a coalition capable of winning the 2016 elections and forming an inclusive government using the most competent men and women.

On his Facebook wall, he has been asking: Who wants to join this coalition to make our country strong and its people prosperous?

Dr Nduom, who was the 2012 presidential candidate of the PPP, has also been explaining that he is looking for the formation of a coalition with equal partnership or a majority and minority partnership to win the elections and form a government, come January 2017. 

An independent presidential candidate in the 2012 polls, Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah, is also asking politicians of like mind to open up to the coalition idea at the presidential level for the 2016 general election.

“This is the hope for Ghanaians to stop the self-destruct mechanism set in motion by the NDC and the NPP,” he reasons.

Related to the debate is the idea espoused by the 2012 presidential candidate of the CPP, Dr Abu Sakara, who recently resigned from the party, urging Ghanaians to support an independent platform to kick out the duo politics of the NDC and the NPP.

State of readiness

Meanwhile, the four political parties with representation in Parliament have managed to elect their flag bearers. They are President Mahama for the ruling NDC; Nana Akufo-Addo for the NPP; Mr Ivor Kobina Greenstreet for the CPP and Dr Edward Nasigre Mahama for the PNC. 

Other parties that have elected their flag bearers are the GCPP, which elected Dr Henry Lartey, and the United Progressive Party (UPP), which elected Mr Kwasi Addai Odike.

Although the PPP and the National Democratic Party (NDP) are yet to elect their flag bearers, it is obvious that the two parties will affirm Dr Nduom and a former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, respectively, as their candidates of choice.

With barely seven months to the crucial polls, most of the 24 or so registered parties are yet to pick their presidential candidates, let alone elect their parliamentary candidates for the 275 constituencies across the country.

On the election of their parliamentary candidates, the NDC and the NPP have almost completed the process, while the other political parties are at various stages of either starting or completing the process.

Manifesto launch

Interestingly, none of the political parties has launched its manifesto for the 2016 elections, bringing into question the issues they are campaigning on. 

Generally, preparations by the parties towards the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections appears to be slow. 

Nonetheless, issues about corruption and the debt stock, job creation, the economy and infrastructure development are emerging as strong pointers for debate, going into the elections. 

How to deal with the galamsey menace, challenges with small-scale mining, as well as the Fulani herdsmen menace, will be on the front burner for debate.

Accountable parties

Last week, to show proof of how accountable the political parties are to the electorate and the general Ghanaian populace, the EC gave the parties up to May 31, 2016 to submit details of their audited accounts. 

The election management body has been harshly blamed for failing to implement the Political Parties Act 2000 (Act 574) to the letter and by the reminder, it is warning of sanctions in accordance with the law if the parties fail to comply with the directive.

Pursuant to Act 574, all registered political parties are to comply with Section 21(1) (b), which requires that audited accounts of the political parties for the year shall be submitted to the EC.

According to Section 14(2), a political party shall, within six months after a by-election in which it has participated, submit to the commission a detailed statement of all expenditure incurred for that election.

24 Certified parties

The EC has so far registered 24 political parties. 

They are the NDC, the NPP, the PPP, the CPP, the PNC and the NDP. 

Others are the GCPP, the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), the EGLE Party (EP), the United Ghana Movement (UGM), the Ghana Democratic Republican Party (GDRP) and the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP).

Still others are the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD), the National Reform Party (NRP), the Ghana National Party (GNP), the United Renaissance Party (URP), the New Vision Party (NVP), the United Love Party (ULP), the United Front Party (UFP), the United Development System Party (UDSP) and the Independent People’s Party (IPP). 

The rest are the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), the Yes People’s Party (YPP) and the UPP.

The All People’s Congress (APC) founded by Mr Hassan Ayariga has received its provisional certificate and is awaiting its final certificate to commence business as a fully registered political party. 

If it is successful, it will become the 25th political party so far registered by the EC.