2016 election : Change or continuity?
On Wednesday, Ghanaians will go to the polls to elect a President, as well as 275 Members of Parliament (MPs) to administer the affairs of the state in the next four years from January 7, 2017.
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In this landmark election, the sixth under the Fourth Republican dispensation, almost all the contesting parties are leaving no stone unturned and working assiduously to win the votes of the nearly 15.8 million eligible voters as declared by the Electoral Commission (EC).
The campaign for the Flagstaff House (Jubilee House) has been so intense that tension has already started heightening, giving the Inspector General of Police(IGP), as well as the other security capos, sleepless nights, especially as they continue to plot strategies that will help them nip in the bud any attempts by some political miscreants and unscrupulous persons with strong political connections to cause mayhem and eventually plunge this country into confusion of unimaginable magnitude.
Candidates
There are seven candidates contesting the presidential election, with six of them on the ticket of political parties while the seventh is standing as an independent candidate.
They are the incumbent President, John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC); Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People's Party (PPP); Lawyer Ivor Kobina Greenstreet of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Dr Edward Nasigri Mahama of the People's National Convention (PNC) and Jacob Osei Yeboah, the Independent Candidate.
The multiplicity of presidential candidates adds some beauty to our young democracy, which is touted as the model on the continent and beyond.
Beneath this acknowledgement and recognition of Ghana’s budding democracy, certain strategies, both fair and foul, being adopted by some of the candidates and their team of communicators, as well as party activists, give enough reason for worry.
Already, the doomsday apostles have started some weird predictions that our dear nation will be plunged into chaos if the results of the election do not go a particular way.
Despite this threat of mayhem, the IGP and the security chiefs have given assurances that they are on top of issues and equal to the task. The security agencies have further given an assurance to the entire populace to be rest assured that nothing untoward will happen on the election day and the days beyond.
Campaign messages
Interestingly, all kinds of campaign messages are being put across by the political parties craving to occupy the Flagstaff House. Even though their messages are similar in the way they will achieve the ultimate results, some have been couched in such a way that they hit the electorate like a massive punch.
Just imagine the NPP’s ‘One district, one factory’, ‘One village, one dam’, ‘One constituency, $1million’, the revamping of industries to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed youth, among others.
Even though some political pundits have pooh poohed the NPP’s campaign message of ‘one this, one that’, to all intents and purposes, these messages have resonated very well with the people who are looking forward to a better life, come 2017, should the NPP win the 2016 polls.
The NDC has so far not made any extreme promises as it did in 2012. This time, as the incumbent administration, it is capitalising on the massive infrastructure development it had undertaken across the 10 regions of the country. Impressive projects, such as the recently inaugurated Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, the roads that link Burma Camp and Spintex, the numerous regional and teaching hospitals, the construction of the 123 E-block Community Day Senior High Schools, provision of water to communities that hitherto did not have water, getting rural communities onto the national grid, the revamping of the cocoa sector as well as the promise to create more employment when the party is retained in power after the 2016 election seem not to enthuse some Ghanaians as they complain on a daily basis about the stagnation in their personal lives as a result of the poor management of the economy. The difficulties caused by dumsor for close to three and half years is still fresh in the minds of the people of this country.
The other minority parties also have very forward-looking campaign messages but the norm, rather than the rule is that the contest to the Flagstaff House has always been a straight fight between the NDC and the NPP. To a very large extent, it will take several decades for this status quo to be overturned.
Sadly, while the NDC brags of these gargantuan projects, many Ghanaians frown on them because of certain decisions by government which have adversely affected the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian. The withdrawal of the teacher/nursing trainee allowances, which the NPP has promised to restore if it wins power is heart-warming among the beneficiary institutions.
There are a lot of motley factors, which will surely play a crucial role in Wednesday’s election, which I believe the party with the best strategy stands the chance of winning. The in-roads made by the NPP into the stronghold of the World Bank of the NDC in the Volta Region, as well as the warm reception its flag bearer had received across the region bodes good tidings for the party. In much the same way, the NDC also boast of its ambitions to secure 1.5million votes in the NPP strong hold, the Ashanti Region as well as sharing the Eastern Region equally with the NPP, if attained will mean a lot for both parties.
Role of party communicators
In actual fact, majority of the party communicators have not been impressive and have created more problems for their parties rather than helping in building them and winning new souls for their respective parties. The way they react to issues when they pop up is very reprehensible. Instead of tackling the issues that have been brought on board for proper and logical discussion and explanation, they resort to insults and name calling.
The two major parties have, to a large extent, been guilty of this and a lot of discerning voters could be swayed by the output of these party communicators.
Election outcome
Whatever the outcome of the December 7 general election, the communicators will have to sit up and learn the rudiments of communication if they still intend to continue with political party communication — PR, which is part of communication, is not about insults and half truths.
Wednesday is the decision-making day, and it is clear that the battle is a straight fight between the NPP and the governing NDC.
Predicting this election is not an easy task. Some pollsters have already made their verdicts known but judging from what happened in the US, polls can no longer be very reliable, and if you dare ask me what I think about this election, I will confidently tell you that it looks like Nana Addo.
